Ciryl Gane won the interim Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight title at UFC 265 in August 2021, when he defeated Derrick Lewis by TKO. Since then, the 36 year old from La Roche-sur-Yon, France, lost two contests to a pair of legends.
He was defeated by Francis Ngannou in January 2022 and Jon Jones in March 2023. After capturing the interim UFC heavyweight title for a second time on Sunday by taking down former two-division UFC titleholder Alex Pereira from Brazil in the co-main event at UFC Freedom 250 on the White House South Lawn in Washington, Gane will again have the opportunity to fight for the title.
Another possibility is Gane will be elevated to undisputed title holder if UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall continues his absence. Aspinall has not competed since last October in a match versus Gane that ended in a no-contest in the first round. There is no current timetable for Aspinall’s return to action.
The lowlight of the evening occurred after UFC heavyweight contender Josh Hokit handed Derrick Lewis, the only other Black competitor on the card, his second embarrassing loss of 2026. Hokit, who has a history of making crude and discriminatory remarks, took it to the extreme in his vile post-fight interview in the Octagon.
“Michelle Obama is a man, am I right, America?” he shouted laughing, referencing the former First Lady of the United States.
Jesse Rodriguez (24-0, 17 KOs) claimed the WBA bantamweight championship Saturday at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, becoming a three-division champion when he defeated Antonio Vargas (19-2-1, 11 KOs).
Boxing returns to Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Saturday, June 27, for a highly anticipated matchup between two undefeated fighters: Puerto Rican WBO and WBA junior middleweight champion Xander Zayas (23-0, 13 KOs), will take on Philadelphia native Jaron Ennis (35-0, 31 KOs). Zayas is 23 and Ennis will turn 29 the day before the fight.
Brooklynite Edgar Berlanga (23-2, 18 KOs) looks to get back into the win column when he faces Montreal’s Steven Butler (38-5-1, 32 KOs) in a 10-round super middleweight battle. Berlanga last fought in July at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens when Hamzah Sheeraz upset him via fifth-round knockout.
Another Brooklyn native, undefeated former super lightweight champion Richardson Hitchins (20-0, 8 KOs), will take on Ricardo Salas (24-2-2, 18 KOs) in a 12-round welterweight contest. Hitchins will move up to 147 pounds. He was a late scratch in his IBF super lightweight title defense in February against Oscar Duarte due to an undisclosed illness.
