UFC 265 Recap

Last night’s fights were full of action. UFC 265 was held in the great city of Houston. We saw a new face emerge at Heavyweight. A potential new contender come forward at Welterweight. We witnessed the resurgence of a king. There were some cool finishes too! In this UFC 265 Recap, we will touch on several of these topics. UFC 265 provided some WOW and WTF moments. It also elevated some new faces into title contention, and livened up some divisions that may have been stagnant. So sit back, relax, and hold on as we begin the UFC 265 Recap.

Cyril Gane Is the Truth

I will be the first to admit, I was not sure if Gane was ready for last night. Even though I get how special he is, I wasn’t sure if he was ready for that type of spotlight. I was wrong as wrong could be. He totally dominated Derrick Lewis, to become the first French UFC champion. The most impressive thing about Gane was his mentality. He chose to go to Lewis’ hometown for the biggest fight of his life. Derrick Lewis is an H-Town representative; almost to the level of Belly Up’s Parker Ainsworth! So the crowd was pro-Lewis.

Is the King Back and Luque a Problem?

Jose Aldo looked incredible last night. It took me back to 2010. The King of Rio was crisp, sharp, and powerful. When he first moved down to 135, I was confused. I thought he still had gas in the tank at 145. He made an example of Pedro Munhoz. Aldo dominated en route to the unanimous decision. He is still ranked high enough in the division, and with that performance, I think he could be back in the title hunt.

The other co-main event saw Vicente Luque escape being finished by Michael Chiesa to win an important fight. Kamaru Usman has emptied the Welterweight division. He is now giving rematches to fighters that he has dominated. We needed a fresh contender, and this fight was made to give us that. It did not disappoint. I thought Chiesa was about to stop him. Luque was able to get out of it, and submit him. Luque has been on a roll lately, and with his ground game, could potentially test Usman.

What’s Next

Now that UFC 265 is an afterthought, what is next for the competitors. Tecia Torres has to hope to challenge someone in the top 10 to get closer to the title picture. She still has a way to go. She should look at challenging Nina Nunes next. Luque is in an interesting position. Luque can take a few different paths. He could fight Leon Edwards next to determine a true number one contender. He could also go big game hunting for Jorge Masvidal. Gilbert Burns is also out there too!

The King of Rio has some interesting options as well. With his star power, he could challenge some big names in that division like Cody Garbrandt (I know he’s at flyweight for now, but still), TJ Dillashaw, or a blast from the past with Dominick Cruz or Frankie Edgar. He could also challenge new contenders like Rob Font. I think he will need to have another fight before challenging for the gold again.

Lastly, Mr. Gane is in the best situation of everyone. He is the interim champ. The most likely scenario is for him to fight Francis Ngannou. That would be a slugfest for sure. He also can be in a real conversation to fight the GOAT at heavyweight, Stipe Miocic. Fighting Jon Jones can be a possibility now for Gane. If everyone is booked, I am sure Curtis Blaydes would step up to fight Gane. The possibilities are endless. With all these new potenial matchup across several divisions, the rest of this year will be fun!

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