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.
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.
