The main event was set up in Houston for the hometown hero Derrick Lewis who took on the undefeated Ciryl Gane of France in the title fight for the interim UFC Heavyweight Championship in a 5 round bout. The French fighter fought effectively against Lewis in the first round with a flurry of kicks. Lewis was unable to respond.
Frustration built in quickly for the hometown hero as midway through the second round he was seen more aggressive to land shots. Gane was as cool as ever and controlled the action while landing knee shots until they were separated.
Gane started the third round with precise offensive attacks with kicks to the leg and huge right hands to the head of Lewis. Lewis had no response to the attack having 2 more minutes to survive the round. Gane wasn’t having any of it and unloaded punches on the top mount. The referee stepped in to end the fight in the third round by TKO.
#ANDNEW 🏆
🇫🇷 France's @Ciryl_Gane is your new interim HW champ!
[ B2YB @CryptoCom ] pic.twitter.com/PWqZVO3fot
— UFC (@ufc) August 8, 2021
The co-main event was contested between the Brazilian icon Jose Aldo against world number 9 Pedro Munhoz in the men’s bantamweight division. Munhoz was the earlier attacker in the opening round but Aldo had an answer with a solid show in defence and sharp counters. Moving into the second round both the competitors were on the attack giving each other no chance of a breather.
The Brazilian opened the third round going quickly back to where he left off in round 2. Aldo managed to tag Munhoz with hard shots straight down the stretch. The match ended and moved to the judge’s scorecard giving Jose Aldo the win by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).
THE KING OF RIO 🇧🇷 @JoseAldoJunior locks in his 30th professional win inside the Octagon tonight! #UFC265 pic.twitter.com/Ryd3rzdnHe
— UFC (@ufc) August 8, 2021
Alonzo Menifield faced Ed Herman in the preliminary round. A consistent series of leg kicks and jabs by Menifield kept Herman rooted to his blocks all through the entire first round by not permitting his rival to draw himself near enough to grapple.
Herman saw an opportunity to flip the fight score in his favour as the start of the second round saw Menifield slip down to the canvas. He quickly back to his feet and recovered by unloading power shots against the cage. Herman didn’t show any signs of slowing down the end of the fight in the third round and being declared the winner by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).
