In the main event of UFC Paris, a heavyweight bout takes place as Ciryl Gane takes on Tai Tuivasa. The card takes place on Saturday, September 3 in Paris, France – which serves as the first UFC event in France.
UFC Paris Opening Odds:
Ciryl Gane -300
Tai Tuivasa +250
UFC Paris Current Odds (Aug. 24):
Ciryl Gane -560
Tai Tuivasa +430
Gane and Tuivasa’s recent fights
Ciryl Gane (10-1) is coming off his first career loss as he suffered a decision loss to Francis Nagnnou at UFC 270 for the heavyweight belt. Prior to that, the Frenchman scored a TKO win over Derrick Lewis in the main event of UFC 265 to win the interim heavyweight title. In the UFC, Gane is 7-1 with his other wins coming over Alexander Volkov, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Junior dos Santos, Tanner Boser, Don’Tale Mayes, and Raphael Pessoa.
Tai Tuivasa (14-3) is riding a five-fight winning streak and coming off the biggest win of his career as he KO’d Derrick Lewis at UFC 271. Before that, he KO’d Augusto Sakai, Greg Hardy, Harry Hunsucker and Stefan Struve to return to the win column. Before the winning streak the Aussie lost three in a row as he was submitted by Sergey Spivak, dropped a decision to Blagoy Ivanov and lost by TKO to Junior dos Santos. He started out his UFC career 3-0 as he beat Rashad Coulter by KO, Cyril Asker by TKO and Andrei Arlovski by decision.
Are the odds surprising?
The opening odds weren’t too surprising as I thought Gane would open around a -275 favorite as the Frenchman is a bad stylistic matchup for Tuivasa. Gane is such a technical kickboxer that has is fast for a heavyweight and can stick-and-move and land his jab without getting hit. Tuivasa, meanwhile, is a brawler who goes for broke and whether or not he has the cardio to go five rounds is also uncertain.
Along with that, Gane has been the betting favorite in all of his UFC fight and has closed above -300 in five of them. Tuivasa, meanwhile, was the underdog against Lewis, a pick’em against Sakai and Hardy while being only -160 against Struve as he hasn’t gotten much respect due to his three losses in a row.
How might the odds change?
As we have already seen, the odds have continued to move in Gane’s favor and I expect as we get to fight week casual bettors will throw Gane into their parlays. However, with Tuivasa having the KO power that he does, I do think sharp action will come in on him at +430 but I expect Gane to close around -575 to -600.
