UFC Paris: Gane vs Tuivasa Recap

 UFC Paris Recap

3 Important Fights & What’s Next?

            1. Ciryl Gane (11-1) def. Tai Tuivasa (15-4) via 3rd round TKO. 

                

                I'll start off by formally apologizing to Gane and Bam Bam for capping their capability of entertaining violence at 2 rounds. This was a good little war, despite what Gane might have expected. Michael Bisping summed up his demeanor perfectly, "he's got a smile on his face like he's watching his son at a football game". Gane flashed that smug throughout the first round, landing heavy kicks to the leg and body, accented by lightning fast jabs. Tai started to find his own range though, coming within a few inches of Gane's chin as he would back up with his chin in the air. This would spell disaster with two minutes left in the 2nd round. Tai throws a straight right hand at his chest and as Gane resets with his right hand fulled extended to measure the distance, luring himself into a false sense of security and bam! Tai comes over the top with a looping right hand, dropping Gane to the canvas. A very good read by Tai as Gane kept his back against the cage, giving up all the room for tai to work. 

               In the heat of battle as the underdog was mounting his best attack, Gane regained his composure and stuck to the game plan. He shook off the previous 45 second flurry of exchanges and landed a couple paralyzing body kicks. At this point Tai's face is covered in blood and he's laboring forward. The round ends with another perfect jab from Gane, it's amazing how quick he is for a heavyweight. The 3rd round starts with more of the same as Gane lands front kicks up the middle, at least two times it appeared as though Tai was ready to quit. Gane would have to shut his lights off to take him out of this fight. With less than a minute left in the round, battered and bloody, Tai lunges forward hitting air, leaving his left side completely exposed. Gane bobs to his right, plants his feet and stuns Tai with a right uppercut. He smells blood, follows up with rabid punches and finishes him with a hard left hook. That's all she wrote. 

                

                Key takeaway: The level of sportsmanship exhibited by these two giants... just astonishing. After all the fighting and the dramatic finish, they capped the post fight interview and the night by praising each other and the French fans. We don't deserve violent gentleman like Ciryl Gane and Tai Tuivasa. 

To look forward, Gane is now 8-1 in the UFC with his only loss being to the current champ. I would like to see one more win, possibly against a veteran like Jon Jones or Stipe Miocic. He's right back in the title picture. As for Tai, this ends his 5 fight winning streak, but he's not even 30 yet. He's still very dangerous and has shown he can compete with the best in the division. The future is very bright.

            2. Robert Whittaker (25-6) def. Marvin Vettori (18-6) via unanimous decision. 

                

                We knew Vettori was gonna be the larger man, we also knew that Robert was a welterweight for the entire first half of his career. Considering that, you could have made the case that Vettori would try to bully Robert and take him down or lean on the clinch to burn minutes off the clock. That's not what happened. The 1st round was a decent sparing match with Vettori possibly edging it out by landing a couple solid left hands and backing Robert to the cage with kicks. Robert is known for taking round 1 off to play defense and make reads, that's exactly what he did. Halfway through the 2nd round Robert wakes us all up, landing a flush right hand. Vettori brushes it off like nothing happened, probably because he's made of solid Italian marble. Robert rises to the challenge, a man possessed. He clips him again, this time with a heavy right head kick. Bisping notes the incredible flexibility in his hips. A few more solid straight punches from both sides and the round ends with live odds showing Robert as high as an 8 to 1 favorite.

                In the final round Robert seemed to know momentum was on his side. 90 seconds in he feints a few left hands before clipping Vettori with another thunderous right head kick. He follows that up with a couple hard right hands and an attempted kick that turns into a knee upside Vettori's crown. There's a trickle of blood below the left eye of Vettori, but he's still standing. Robert's timing and distance management is almost unparalleled, no wonder why his second fight with the champion was so damn close. Robert lands a quick takedown and a solid left hand as Vettori works back to his feet, the round ends with him chasing Vettori around the cage. At no point in the final few minutes did Robert take his foot off the gas, he was constantly working for a finish. 

                Key takeaway: I see no good reason why they shouldn't run it back a third time if Adesanya gets through Pereira. The second fight was super close and I'm not convinced the skill gap between them is large enough to close that book. That being said, I really thought Holloway could compete with Volkanovski in their trilogy fight and we saw how that turned out. As for Vettori, he might just need to take some time off before jumping back in the deep end with another top 5 middleweight. Only time will tell. 

            3. Nathaniel Wood (19-5) def. Charles Jourdain (13-6) via unanimous decision. 

                Two dangerous strikers going toe to toe, this fight was made to blows the doors off the main card, almost guaranteed fireworks. Nathaniel Wood must have read my blog highlighting his grappling advantage. We may never know. Regardless, he dominated the ground game of this fight with well timed trips and wet blanket control. To be clear, this fight had it all, with great inside boxing and vicious leg kicks. I just want to address the real whiner in the room, the guy who would make the argument that this fight didn't quite show up, either because of Wood's willingness to hangout in full guard or because he didn't have the power to finish Jourdain on the feet. I call shenanigans on that. Whenever a fighter gets suppressed on the ground or can't find the great equalizer on the feet, that's completely on them. Your job as a fighter is to make the other guy submit to your will or hurt him so bad he can't continue. Wood did the former and Jourdain couldn't stop him. Better bottom game scrambling or takedown defense would have made this fight even more competitive, but there's nothing to take away from Wood. He moved up in weight and dominated on the ground. 

               Key Takeaway: Jourdain was firing missiles in the early going and while I'm still holding out hope that he corrects his grappling deficiency, the fact he was handled by a shorter, lighter weight fighter does raise some serious red flags. Wood on the other hand has proven he can handle a guy with a subpar ground game, but what happens when his opponent has better takedown defense and returns with absolute heat? Say someone like Ilia Topuria or God forbid even Dan Hooker. Hooker is huge for the division and very experienced. Wood has some treacherous road ahead of him before he reaches the featherweight top 15, but I'm definitely along for the ride. 

               Wrap-up: The energy of the crowd was something special, especially during Gane's war with Tai. From the perspective of an at home viewer, it rivaled the U.K. crowd, with the national pride and synchronized singing of national anthems. The one thing I find interesting or worth noting if you plan travel to one of these events, is the level of smoking cigarettes in doors, maybe that's just a French thing. I'm at home anyway so I guess I shouldn't be complaining. As for the commentary team, Michael Bisping made some spot on observations and didn't completely derail the conversation. While Paul Felder and John Gooden kept it very professional, per usual. Overall it was a delightful broadcast and I quite fancy having my night free for whiskey and vinyl. À Votre Santé.