Ciryl Gane opens as heavy favorite to defeat Derrick Lewis at UFC 265

Ciryl Gane has opened as a sizeable favorite over Derrick Lewis for the interim heavyweight title.

The hope for the UFC was to have Ngannou defend his heavyweight title for the first time at UFC 265 on August 7 against Lewis. Yet, the timing didn’t work so the promotion went to an interim belt between Gane and Lewis and the undefeated Frenchman has opened as a sizeable favorite.

UFC 265 Odds:

Ciryl Gane -325
Derrick Lewis +275

At these current odds, you would need to bet $325 to win $100 if Gane wins the interim belt. If you like Lewis a $100 bet would net you $275 if he pulls off the upset.

At first glance, the odds may look surprising. However, Ciryl Gane has been someone who the public and oddsmakers like to back. Lewis, meanwhile, is the complete opposite. Gane has been above -250 favorite in five of his six and was around -170 against Volkov. Lewis, meanwhile, was a +300 underdog to Curtis Blaydes and was only a slight favorite against Blagoy Ivanov.

Ciryl Gane (9-0), just fought on Saturday where he beat Volkov in the main event of UFC Vegas 30. It was his second straight main event after he edged out Jairzinho Rozenstruik in a lackluster fight. He’s 6-0 in the UFC and holds wins over Junior dos Santos and Tanner Boser among others.

Derrick Lewis (25-7) is coming off a KO win over Curtis Blaydes in a big upset to cement himself as a top contender. Prior to that, “The Black Beast” earned a KO win over Aleksei Oleinik after back-to-back decisions over Ilir Latifi and Blagoy Ivanov. He has fought for UFC gold back at UFC 230 and lost by submission to Daniel Cormier just weeks after he knocked out Alexander Volkov in a comeback win. He also holds a decision win over Francis Ngannou.

What do you make of the UFC 265 odds between Ciryl Gane and Derrick Lewis?