Ciryl Gane has achieved two consecutive victories since his defeat to Jon Jones. (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC) Ciryl Gane may have narrowly escaped a tough situation. The ex-UFC interim heavyweight champion clinched a tightly contested split decision over Alexander Volkov during UFC 310’s pay-per-view event on Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The ruling […]
Ciryl Gane may have narrowly escaped a tough situation.
The ex-UFC interim heavyweight champion clinched a tightly contested split decision over Alexander Volkov during UFC 310’s pay-per-view event on Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The ruling prompted swift boos from the audience, and in an unusual moment, Gane exited the Octagon before his post-fight interview, only to come back and express disappointment about his performance.
“I’m not satisfied with how the fight went. I injured my toes right at the beginning of the match,” Gane remarked.
“I secured a win, but I’m not content.”
Gane (13-2) nearly locked in an early victory with a close guillotine choke attempt following a takedown from Volkov (39-11) in the first round that had the Russian in deep trouble.
However, Volkov, 36, managed to escape before the round ended and then stunned Gane, 34, with a spinning backfist in the second round — the most significant strike of the bout.
Volkov maintained top control for most of the third round as well, while Gane spent a majority of the five minutes fruitlessly trying for a kimura from the bottom position.
Ultimately, two judges scored the fight 29-28 in favor of Gane, awarding him the first and second rounds, while the sole dissenting judge had it 29-28 for Volkov.
This victory places Gane on a two-fight winning streak following his disappointing title loss to Jon Jones. It also halts a four-fight winning streak for Volkov, which had positioned the former Bellator champion on the brink of title contention.
Gane faced Volkov previously in June 2021, where Gane won a commanding unanimous decision that propelled him into an interim title fight.
