Gane, Spivak set for UFC Paris battle

Ciryl Gane and Sergey Spivak will have a consequential heavyweight rumble in the main event of a UFC event in Paris, set for the Accor Arena on Saturday evening.

Gane (11-2) is looking to have a third crack at the undisputed UFC heavyweight championship, having suffered losses at the hands of Francis Ngannou (January 2022) and Jon Jones (March 2023) in title fights in the last 19 months.

The 33-year-old Frenchman is hoping that a win over Spivak will propel him back into the title conversation – though a resurgent Tom Aspinall has already thrown his name into the ring as another potential obstacle to the belt.

Gane is hoping to learn from the mistakes he made against Jones: “I don’t know why exactly, but I cannot manage my distance very well during some moments, and I did a mistake,” the former interim champion said.

“It wasn’t possible to manage the distance, and I did some stuff to break this atmosphere, and I did a mistake at this moment.

“Maybe he knew already I’m going to do this mistake, and he took his opportunity... During all the camp Fernand Lopez told me every time we started training, jab and no big hand. Just jab. And what I did? A big hand. Big mistake, and he took the opportunity.”

Spivak (16-3) has been building major momentum with three successive stoppage wins over Greg Hardy, Augusto Sakai and Derrick Lewis to become the ‘dark horse’ in terms of title contention, and the 28-year-old Moldovan is out to prove that he belongs in the upper echelons of the heavyweight division.

“I understand this means I’m taking specific steps to get somewhere, and that I’ve kind of made it to a certain place, but it has to continue to be ‘the next fight’ and something that I have to continue to achieve, as opposed to blowing it out of proportion and making it something bigger than it is,” said ‘Polar bear’.

The rest of the main card features a women’s flyweight bout between Manon Fiorot and Rose Namajunas; Benoit Saint-Denis v Thiago Moises in the lightweight division; a light heavyweight clash between Volkan Oezdemir and Bogdan Guskov; William Gomis v Lucas Almeida in the featherweight category; and a bantamweight opener between Yanis Ghemmouri and Caolan Loughran.

UFC Fight Night: Gane vs, Spivak main card

Main event: Heavyweight: Ciryl Gane v Sergey Spivak

Women’s flyweight: Manon Fiorot v Rose Namajunas

Lightweight: Benoit Saint-Denis v Thiago Moises

Light heavyweight: Volkan Oezdemir v Bogdan Guskov

Featherweight: William Gomis v Lucas Almeida

Bantamweight: Yanis Ghemmouri v Caolan Loughran