Ciryl
Gane has called upon the help of a man who once defeated
Alex
Pereira under the Glory Kickboxing banner.
Gane, who will face “Poatan” for the interim heavyweight crown at
UFC White House on June 14, has been training with Artem
Vakhitov ahead of that fight. Vakhitov defeated Pereira via
majority decision at Glory 78 in September 2021.
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Vakhitov, who owns a 3-1 MMA record, posted video of some sparring
with Gane via Instagram on Monday. Vakhitov earned a contract on
Dana White’s Contender Series in 2024 but was unable to come to
terms with the Las Vegas-based promotion.
Gane, Vakhitov Go Head-to-Head
Gane, a former interim heavyweight champion, has twice come up
short in bids for undisputed heavyweight gold, dropping a unanimous
verdict to Francis
Ngannou at UFC 270 and suffering a first-round submission loss
to Jon
Jones at UFC 285. More recently, a title clash against Tom
Aspinall at UFC 321 ended in a no contest after Gane poked his
opponent in the eye. Aspinall, the reigning heavyweight king is
still on the mend from the foul.
Pereira will be making an attempt at capturing a third
UFCtitle when he meets Gane. “Poatan” last appeared at UFC 320,
where he regained the light heavyweight strap with a first-round
stoppage of Magomed
Ankalaev. Pereira later vacated the belt with the move to
heavyweight.