The UFC has another international event this weekend, with the second UFC Paris card taking place. The main event bout is between highly-ranked heavyweights Ciryl Gane and Sergey Spivak.
Gane is coming off a heartbreaking title fight loss to Jon Jones in March, and Spivak is on his way to contending for the belt for the first time. These two are meeting at a crossroads, going separate ways. This is great matchmaking by the UFC to give us this stylistic matchup for the ages.
Will Gane prove that he has improved against wrestlers? Or will the momentum and work output of Spivak be too much, even in France?
Ciryl Gane–Working His Way Back
Gane is one of the most talented athletes in the heavyweight division and has a unique skill set when the fight is being fought on the feet. His hiccups in the octagon have all been at the hands of wrestling.
A novice wrestler, Francis Ngannou, out-grappled Gane in a title fight, and then the second chance to get UFC gold for Gane ended in a submission to Jon Jones. There’s no secret to what the recipe for beating Gane is.
Not many MMA media outlets are covering this, but this seems to be a major fight for the career of Gane. A win here can prove a lot of doubters wrong, but a loss could dig a hole too big for Gane to climb himself out of any time soon in a stacked heavyweight division.
This is just one more fight that Gane needs to win to be undeniably the top contender for the belt. After losing two title fights, it’s a longer road than it seems to get back into the title picture. We saw that with Justin Gaethje in the lightweight division.
Sergey Spivak–Built For This
Spivak is a hungry upcoming contender who mauls some of the biggest and strongest men in the world. His athleticism, his strength, and his fundamental skills are a recipe for a championship run. He is battle-tested and has bounced back from some tough losses to talented fighters.
In this situation, a fight in a new country where the whole arena will be booing you and cheering on your opponent seems like it would be a very tough task for the majority of fighters. Spivak seemingly is built for this situation to shut up a crowd and play spoiler.
Spivak has the fight IQ, the power, the speed, and the wrestling ability to be a problem for anybody on the UFC roster. He has an opportunity to steal a ton of hype and march his way to a title fight on Saturday night.
Gane vs. Spivak Pick and Prediction
For the official Gane vs. Spivak prediction, I’m going with Spivak to get his hand raised in front of a stunned French crowd.
The wrestling is going to be too much for Gane to handle early on, and it will turn into a dominant performance for Spivak. He will be able to control the fight and close the distance.
This is going to be a massive test for Gane, and I think it will be a big moral victory for him if he doesn’t just give up. It’s rumored that he has that inside of him, but he needs to prove that he can fight back when Spivak is tossing him around the octagon.
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