MMA Fighting - Reaction: Derrick Lewis vs. Ciryl Gane For Interim Heavyweight Title At UFC 265

Episode Date: June 28, 2021

MMA Fighting's Mike Heck, Shaun Al-Shatti and Jose Youngs react to the news of the UFC booking an interim heavyweight title fight between Derrick Lewis and Ciryl Gane Aug. 7 at UFC 265 in Houston, Texas. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow José Youngs: @JoseYoungs Follow Shaheen Al-Shatti: @shaunalshatti Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. To the Vox Media Podcast Network. All right, Mike HEC here for MMAFighting.com. And just like weather in New England, my friends, and the world. of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Just wait a minute, and the whole divisional landscape can change in an instant,

and that is what had happened in the UFC heavyweight division. So if you missed it, we have a new main event for UFC 265 on August 7th. There is a heavyweight championship on the line, but not the undisputed heavyweight title, and it will not include Francis Ngano. There will be an interim heavyweight championship fight. Three months after Ngano becomes champion,

after knocking out Steepi Mietich, an interim title will be up for. for grabs as Derek Lewis will fight Cyril Gahn in Houston, Texas. Gone, of course, just defeated Alexander Volkov in the UFC Vegas 30 main event this past Saturday. And people were wondering where Cyril Gahn is going to go in this logjam heavyweight title picture. Well, we have our answer.

He's going to Houston to fight Derek Lewis. And let me just say, if you said, hey, Mike, write me a list of a thousand fights that could get announced today. This one is absolutely not making the list. it's just not but here we are and it's funny because Ariel Hawani and I were talking about Ganswin where he could go on what the heck and it seemed as if Ingano versus Derek Lewis might happen in September I know Dana White had been talking about it for weeks and weeks now and then like 10 minutes after the interview with Ariel ended we get this news so it's almost like a not a waste

of a conversation but just something we just have to keep in mind when that thing drops on Tuesday morning but all this is happening we got a statement from Francis and Gano's agent Markle Martin who said, quote, this comes as a complete shock. To make an interim title so soon, if you look at the history of this division, it comes as a surprise. We hope to get clarity and figure out something with the UFC soon. And of course, Francis Gano was not going to go quietly into that good night. He reacted to this news as well on Twitter by saying, I remember my interim title fight

against Jarzino, oh wait. And then followed up by saying nothing is right about this situation in essence when we're replying to MMA journalist Ariel Hawani's tweet. So, wow, let us react to what we just found out moments ago, shall we? We have M.A. Fighting Zone. Sean Al-Shadi and Jose Young's joining us. Sean, let us begin with you. What gives, man?

Where the hell did this come from? I mean, you're not the only one asking that on this Monday morning, right? This seems to be a shock to everybody, including Francis and Ghanu. Man, this is the most U.S. thing possible, right? Like we had in front of us, it was gifted to the UFC. John Jones, Francis Ingano, the guy you've waited for how long? How long have we been talking about John Jones going to heavyweight? Pretty much the entirety of his light heavyweight run.

We've always had that question out there. It was the biggest fight by a country mile. That could have been, it still might be, one of the biggest fights of all time. I am firmly believe that would have been the biggest non-Connor McGregor fight that the UFC could ever book, John Jones, Francis and Gano, riding off the heat of what Francis and Gano did. to Stipe Miotich and just appearing to be this insurmountable champion. And instead of John Jones v. Francis Angano, we end up with this fight right here. That is a perfectly fine fight, but it's not a fight that any of us ever expected.

Derek Lewis, Cyril Gahn. No one was asking for this. And it's all because of the UFC just needs to fill a spot on the schedule. And they're getting a little frustrated and flustered with what this whole Francis and Gano's situation is. It is the most UFC move imaginable. It is, frankly, in my opinion. Ridiculous. I mean, nobody wants this or as asking for this. You're in a position right now with this heavyweight division where you have this champion who could be this superstar and you're booking an interim title fight three months after he captures his title. We used to go whole years with one title fight in this division. Now all of a sudden there's this huge urgent push to do this sort of thing. And it's all because Francis couldn't make some sort of date that you felt like he had to make. It's ridiculous. It's again, the most you have seen.

imagine what it does that doesn't excuse it to me the fact that we didn't end up with john jones frances and gano is bad enough but the fact that now we're already in an interim title fight for for a division that just settled this sort of thing it makes no sense to me Jose you have infamously said for well over a year now that no fight is official until both guys make the walk and actually get in the cage and fight and i know this is a little bit of a different context than some of the other scenarios that you have laid out over the over the last several months but an interim title fight? This is crazy, man.

How did you react to this? I had no idea this was coming. This is a shock. What else do I always say, Mike? What has been one of my other go-to phrases? If you ask for something, UFC ain't going to give it to you. In any aspect, any sort of fantasy matchmaking you do,

there is a 99% chance that none of those fights are going to happen. And that's exactly what happened right here. I do like what Sean said, and I actually 100% agree, It's a timing thing. Like they didn't have a headliner for that card in August in Houston. Right now it's Amanda Nunes versus Giuliana Pena. I think it was on either what the heck or between the links or one of the shows that

we're on. Someone said it just didn't have the punch that a pay-per-view needed. Maybe it was missing one aspect and you're trying to figure out what else could go on it. We all assumed it was going to be Francis and Derek Lewis. But then as soon as they said it's probably not going to happen in August, we just assumed to what happened in September. maybe they wanted Derek Lewis to fight in his hometown of Houston and Serra Lagan just fought so doesn't excuse it.

I don't hate the fight in terms of an actual fist fight because it's too high-level heavyweights fighting each other. But Derek Lewis should be fighting Francis because that's what Dana White said. Everyone's like, oh, Data White has said this is happening. It's probably going to happen. And it's not happening. So I'm not surprised because, as Sean has said,

it's just the most UFC thing possible because we all wanted Francis versus John Jones, which means we weren't going to get it. And then we all wanted Francis versus Derek Lewis, which obviously means we're not going to get it. So next man up, Derek Lewis, Cyril gone. It's very bizarre. It's very baffling, but it's just the UFC being the UFC.

Let me cut back in because you even just said right there, Jose, that we all, like the fight that we all were expecting was Francis versus Lewis, and that's the fight that should be happening. And it's like that was even a backup fight. That itself was a backup fight to a huge fight. And now we have a backup to a backup. The fact that we can't even let Francis and Gano get three months, four months after winning this title that he literally waited years and years to get this title shot.

And now we need him back in action in three or four months. Otherwise, something like this. I mean, come on, guys. What are you doing? You take away from Francis and Gano when you do this sort of thing. you have a guy on the precipice of absolute stardom, and you're going to introduce a second champion in his division because he wasn't able to go like a couple months later

after he won this title? How does this make any sense other than the idea that we have just, I guess, settled into and is just a reality now in today's UFC of, hey, there is this spot on this schedule, and one way or another, we're going to get a title fight on this spot. And if you're not ready, it doesn't matter. The train moves on without you,

even if you're potentially the biggest star that we have right now not named Connor McGregor. So the whole thing is, the whole thing again, is just so UFC, man. Like, how did we end up in this fight? How did we end up with this fight? How is this the one that we got? We started from such a great place

where it's like, this is the layup. This is the layup of all layups to do John Jones, Francis Agano. You've been waiting for a decade for John Jones to actually commit to heavyweight, and he did it. He gained all the weight. It's right there. It's just in front of you. Just pay the man.

Pay both of them. And this is that. This is what we end. It's something, it's similar to win. Remember when Anthony Pett has fought, Max Holloway for the interim featherweight title, like six pay-per-views after Jose Aldo won the title and Connor vacated.

It's the same thing. They just wanted big names at the top of the card. No one asked for this interim title. No one asked for this fight. It's just the UFC goes, hey, we're out of champions. Let's create an interim one just to stick at the top of this card.

So if they had waited a month, Francis could probably fight in September. But like Sean said, they want something big on this specific time, on this specific day in Houston. and it's just, it's nothing, it's nothing new. It's just the UFC being the UFC. Again, I like it as a fight, but I don't think he needs an input title on it.

I don't think this needs an infant title on it. But put yourself in Francis Ngano's shoes right now. No, I 100% agree, yeah. Because if you're Francis and Gano, how are you feeling right now on this Monday morning? Like, you were essentially the number one contender from February 2019 up until, you know, March of this year. And you couldn't convince them to book an interim title. fight, you were kind of stuck waiting behind this logjam that was created with DC and Steppe, and you were out there essentially being the champion, just defending against these

number one contenders, whether it was Rosenstruck or JDS or Cain or anybody, Curtis Blades, and you couldn't get them to create an interim belt for you. And now, after three months, just three months into your reign, there's already one because you weren't able to make the state. If you were at Francis Ngano, you have to be livid right now. It's just like, how is these guys getting in? And I couldn't get it for two years. Sean, let me ask you and I have not worked together that long.

So you may not know this about me, but I try to be a silver lining guy. I try to find the sunshine in an otherwise cloudy day, Mr. Alshadhi. Is there a chance that the UFC is doing Derek Lewis a solid here? They're giving him a nice bump in pay, giving him a main event fight at home for an interim title against gone. But behind the scenes, maybe, just maybe. John Jones and the UFC have made nice. Maybe a deal is in place to get Jones this big fight with Ngano. And we know the UFC and they like to get one piece done first before moving on to the other.

So maybe Engano does even know this is happening. And then that this fight between Lewis and Gan will essentially be a number one contender fight. The winner will fight the winner of Jones versus Inganu. And we're just adding a little sizzle to the stake to make Derek happy, make Gond happy. is that at all possible? Is the chance above 1% that this is a possibility? Was Cyril gone not happy?

Like, he just fought two days ago. Not zero. I'm talking about, I'm talking about Derek. I mean, Derek is told, basically said he's in the fight, but now that you're like, Derek, guess what, dude, John's in, you're out. What can we do to make it better for you? All right, we'll let you headline this card in August. I don't know that the UFC is super worried about how Derek Lewis is feeling.

if we're being honest with each other, right? Like, I don't know that they're feeling like they need to placate Derek Lewis. Sure, is there a chance that we might still get John Jones versus Ngano out of this? I mean, there's a chance of anything, apparently. We just got Derek Lewis versus Cheryl gone for the interim title. So there's a chance of anything, but I wouldn't put my money on it. Because if that fight is there and it's ready, why not just book that, whenever you can book that and then just do something else for this card, right?

Because you're diminishing the heavyweight title and everything to do with the heavyweight division. when you introduce interim, well, that's just how it works with the public, right? Like if the public sees a second belt in this division, the first belt isn't maybe as important as it should be. Is there a chance of that? Sure, but I wouldn't bet on it. Like, if I had to bet money right now, I wouldn't put money on it. Here's what happens every time the UFC does.

And I say this, this is, this has happened. It happens all the time. The UFC puts three titles on one card like they did in Jacksonville. They used so many champions in like a real short amount of time. They're like, uh-oh, we don't have a champion for an event. Either we're going to cancel it like they did that one. And remember they were supposed to have that January one in Anaheim and Kamar Uzman and Ben Asker volunteered to fight Colby Covington and then Colby said no, so they just canceled it.

Well, and then the same, like it happens. With the Holloway Pedish one, they had like that Madison Square Guarded card with like three champions, a bunch of fights or whatever. And then all of a sudden they run out of card like champion. And so, again, they wanted something for this specific day, and it's bizarre. But if it means we can get Francis and Gano versus John Jones, I'm fine with it. But as of right now, we don't know. But very bizarre.

Should this fight be the main event, Sean, over an undisputed title fight between Amanda Nunes and Giuliana Pena? Like, I understand that maybe this card needed a second punch to the one, two. But you could still make that the co-main event, and it does literally the exact same thing. The marquee doesn't have to change. You just put all four faces on the poster. It's not a big deal. Is this a disservice to those two ladies? More specifically, Amanda Nunes, with the run she has had over the last few years.

And on top of that, being the greatest women's fighter of all time, should she be getting the rub here and not an interim title fight? I mean, that's a tough question. I don't really concern myself too often with the idea of the card placement and where people go on that sort of thing. I mean, that's all seems very arbitrary. And ultimately, unless you're getting pay-per-view points, it doesn't really matter much. I would say Amanda Nunes probably would be cool with these dudes headlining the event. It's less work for her and it's less pressure on her shoulders to do that. I'm sure that's going to be what the UFC ends up doing too just because it is a heavyweight fight.

But I mean, when it comes to the actual logistics of it, I would be fine with whatever they end up doing. I don't know that that's that big of a deal. Jose, I know you're not huge into the betting odds, but, you know, it's sometimes nice to put things into context. Right now, Cyril Gahn, a minus 325 favorite against Derek Lewis. to come back at plus 275. Agree or disagree? I guess I wouldn't put it that. I probably put it closer, but I do agree that I would probably favor Cyril Gond to win this

fight, just based on what he's shown in his past few performances. And we've seen, like, Derek Lewis was very close to losing to Volkov before he, again, but has that touch of death. So Derek Lewis is never out of a fight, but just based off of the last few performances, again, I don't think we've ever seen Cyril Gond in trouble ever. He's one of what, like three fighters in the UFC to never. fight off of his backs and not that Derek Lewis is going to take him down. But yeah, I would favor Cyril, but I would probably make that gap a little smaller. If Cyril Gan wins this fight,

Sean, and they can't, I mean, the path is to John Jones. We hope that happens. It may not. Is it is a backup plan, though? Is this maybe a backup? Like, if Cyril Gan wins this fight, you can do Ngano versus Gan in France or, you know, I mean, that's massive. That's a massive thing. Is this, maybe it's not like a reward for Derek Lewis and doing a thanks for the favor bro but maybe it's it maybe it's just like a plan B for Francis and Gano like hey man we either give you Jones or you fight Ghan in France next year

I mean sure we're assuming that Cyril Gahn's going to win this fight I probably favor him too but that's a lot of assumptions still right Derek Lewis you give him 25 minutes to land a shot like he might he might land that shot we've seen it a thousand times to me what this does though is it essentially you're pushing you're kicking the can even farther down the road for John Jones. Like, that can't even really be a possibility anymore once you have an interim champion,

right? Like, at that point, Francis has to fight the interim champion, unless we're going to do the Colby Covington, Tony Ferguson thing, where we're just going to strip an interim because we found something more fun and bigger to do. Like, at this point, you're basically forcing the issue that this John Jones superfight that the entire world wants to see and will make you so much money can't happen logistically until, what, next year, maybe even farther along the line than that? like you're just making that an absolute certainty

when you book this kind of fight with an interim title not too far away I mean this is two months away this is all this is all the UFC doing the UFC men I'm just trying to find any kind of angle to have this make sense and none of them are working not one like big

like Francis and Gano versus John Jones inside Madison Square Garden was as Sean not even a layup like we're going to lower the basket to like waist high and you're just going to like put it in. Like, that was the fight to make. Francis versus John, the heavyweight championship of the world against the, like, a bike of the man who can just take your soul with his fist against the greatest fighter of all time. Like, the heavyweight championship of the world in Madison Square Garden,

all the history, all the heavyweight towels and boxing that have been there. That was the fight. Now that's not going to, like, that can't happen for another year because of the timing of this. Last thing on this, true of all, Sean, the biggest loser in this whole situation is steep amoeich. False. I mean, the biggest loser in all of this is either Francis, John Jones, or all of us for missing out on a fight that would have been one of the biggest fights in the history of the sport. Like the historical ramifications that would have been in place for John Jones versus Francis and Ghanu are immense, right? Like, you could spend 20 minutes listing how the effects that could have on each guy's legacy and just how we consider them and sort of their overall, where they sit in the pantheon, especially a guy like John, like that would probably make him the gun. vote like unquestionably even if I mean obviously the PED stuff is that still out there but just aside from that like the ultimate loser of all of this is probably John Jones like he

he did it he made he did the work he's a heavyweight right now like he put in the time finally and now he's what one or two steps behind even getting the title shot like in the ultimate loser that's John Jones okay to be more clear Jose in the actual title picture right now because John, we knew there was going to be hurdles getting to this fight. So having an interim at this point is a shocker. Not having John Jones involved is not really a shocker. But how much does this hurt Stepe right now? Because he was ahead of Sierra gone in this conversation.

And now he's like completely out of it. Yeah, remember I was good, I forgot to bring this up. Like remember the winner of Derek Lewis and Francis was supposed to fight Steepay? Or Dana White was like, hey, maybe Stepe fights John. And John was like, yeah, that's not happening. So Steepa is just the forgotten man. this. I'm not saying he's the biggest loser, but Steepa did just get knocked unconscious, like, very recently. So if he wants more time to be a firefighter and be a dad, and as he said, he wants

to put on a lot more weight before he, in his mind was going to have that rubber match against Francis. If he's holding out for that rubber match, it's going to be a long time before we see stepe's. But again, like Sean said, I don't think he's the biggest loser. But if you're a big stepe fan, not Jedmishu, obviously, is it's going to be a wild. before you're seeing back in there. Yeah, it's now even longer of a road to get back to a title shot, no matter who wins,

even if Francis isn't the champion. He's got a long road back to that title. So a lot to unpack here. This is actually happening. We're not dreaming. We're actually talking about this. The interim heavyweight title will be up for grabs on August 7th in Houston

at UFC 265, Derek Lewis versus Cyril gone. Let's even hope that fight happens. Remember, Chas Scaly was supposed to fight, and he made the walk to the Octagon and his fight didn't happen. So let's just fingers crossed. Everyone can actually make that fight. We're to end up with a Gusto Sakai fighting for the interim title. This is ridiculous.

Alistos Sakai versus Martine Tibera for the interim heavyweight title, August 7th. Make the poster, damn it. Make the poster. All right. We have talked about this enough. I'm sure we'll be talking about it a lot more on the way to August 7. But until then, for Jose, Sean Al-Shadi, I am Mike Keck. We'll see you later.

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