Ciryl Gane edges Alexander Volkov on the cards in controversial win at UFC 310
Former interim champ Ciryl Gane gets nod at UFC 310
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, December 7, 2024, for UFC 310, going down live from the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada.
Headlining the event is a 125 lb title bout between UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja (28-5) and former two-time Rizin bantamweight champion Kai Asakura (21-4).
Co-headlining the event is a 170 lb showcase between a pair of undefeated contenders in no. 3 ranked former M-1 Challenge welterweight champion Shavkat Rakhmonov (18-0) and no. 7 ranked former Cage Warriors welterweight champion Ian Garry (15-0).
Our feature fight of the evening came in the heavyweight division between no. 2 ranked former interim champion Ciryl Gane (13-2) and no. 3 ranked former Bellator and M-1 Global heavyweight champion Alexander Volkov (38-11), a rematch of their 2021 main event clash that saw Gane the victor via unanimous decision.
Since then, Gane had gone 3-2, defeating Derrick Lewis (TKO) for the interim title, losing to Francis Ngannou (UD) in their unification bout, defeating Tai Tuivasa (KO), losing to Jon Jones (guillotine choke) in his second undisputed title fight, and defeating Serghei Spivac (TKO) in his latest appearance.
Volkov on the other hand had gone 5-1 since their first encounter, snapping Marcin Tybura’s five-fight win streak (UD) before losing to current interim champion Tom Aspinall (armbar). Since then, he’d won his last four straight going into tonight’s feature fight, defeating the likes of Jairzinho Rozenstruik (TKO), Alexandr Romanov (TKO), Tai Tuivasa (Ezekiel choke), and Sergei Pavlovich (UD).
Continue reading to see how our UFC 310 feature fight rematch went down:
Official Result: Ciryl Gane def. Alexander Volkov via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Volkov landed a couple good snap kicks to the body early on in the bout before catching a kick thrown by Gane, putting him on his back and remaining on top for about a minute. Once Gane returned to his feet he took Volkov down, dropping back for a heel hook and ultimately losing his position.
Gane timed a beautiful knee to the body as Volkov was coming in, Volkov securing another takedown in the exchange. Gane locked up a guillotine choke in the final seconds and it appeared the fight was close to being over, but Volkov survived the attempt, and they headed into a second round.
Volkov hurt Gane with a spinning back fist early in the second though Gane recovered well. Gane started to get his hands going from here, landing heavy combinations though Volkov returned and landed a lot of his own.
Gane got taken down once again in the third and final round, spending much of the round on his back attempting a kimura for a time and also trying to get back to his feet. He was however unable to, remaining on his back until the final buzzer sounded.
This decision wasn’t exactly telling of the fight; most everyone, Gane and his team included, thought Volkov won the fight. But the bright side of it is we’ve seen interim champion Tom Aspinall fight Volkov before, but we haven’t seen him fight Gane.
With UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones’ fighting future remaining uncertain, it’s likely the winner of this fight will face Aspinall next, and Aspinall vs Volkov is a very exciting match up.
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