After months of speculation, UFC 265 has a location and main event.
On Aug. 7 the UFC will roll into Houston, a location that was speculated for the event, company president Dana White told ESPN on Monday. A title fight involving two heavyweights will be atop the card, but UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou will not be.
Instead, top contenders Derrick Lewis and Ciryl Gane are set to collide for an interim title.
It is unclear at the time of publication why an interim title is being instated, but Ngannou’s agent Marquel Martin told ESPN the news came as a “complete shock.”
Per Ngannou’s agent, Marquel Martin … “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.”
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) June 28, 2021
Fighting out of Houston, Lewis (25-7 MMA, 16-5 UFC) has the opportunity to clinch UFC gold for the first time – and do it in front of his hometown fans. Following four consecutive wins that included knockouts of Aleksei Oleinik and most recently Curtis Blaydes, “The Black Beast” Lewis was deemed the No. 1 contender by White earlier this year.
As for Gane (9-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC), the Frenchman and once teammate of Ngannou (16-3 MMA, 11-2 UFC) defeated Alexander Volkov via unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 190 this past Saturday. The win was his sixth in as many UFC appearances. Volkov joined a list of fighters Gane defeated that includes Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Junior Dos Santos among others.
The current UFC 265 lineup includes:
- Ciryl Gane vs. Derrick Lewis – for interim heavyweight title
- Champ Amanda Nunes vs. Julianna Pena – for women’s bantamweight title
- Ed Herman vs. Alonzo Menifield
- Jose Aldo vs. Pedro Munhoz
- Vince Morales vs. Drako Rodriguez
- Johnny Munoz vs. Jamey Simmons
- Casey Kenney vs. Song Yadong
- Angela Hill vs. Tecia Torres
- Michael Chiesa vs. Vicente Luque
- Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs. Jessica Penne
