Ciryl Gane ties Sean O'Malley for second-most significant strikes thrown in 2021

Ciryl Gane is officially tied with Sean O'Malley for the second spot on the list for the most significant strikes landed in the UFC this year.

The UFC interim heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane, who has ravaged his way to the top of the division since debuting in 2019, landed 335 strikes in the past year. Surprisingly, Sean O'Malley has landed the exact same number of significant strikes as well.

What isn't surprising is the fighter who's grabbed the number one spot on the list: Max Holloway. 'Blessed', who only fought twice in 2021 still managed to land the highest number of significant strikes (675).

Here's a look at the list revealed by MMA By The Numbers:

Both Ciryl Gane and Sean O'Malley fought three times in the UFC in 2021. 'Bon Gamin' started his year with a unanimous decision victory over Jairzinho Rozenstruik in February. He followed it up with another decision victory over Alexander Volkov in June.

The Frenchman ended the year as the UFC's interim heavyweight champ after securing an impressive TKO victory over Derrick Lewis at UFC 265. He will now face Francis Ngannou in a heavyweight unification title fight at UFC 270 on January 22, 2022.

Meanwhile, Sean O'Malley recorded three finishes in 2021. 'Suga' began the season with a TKO finish over Thomas Almeida. He then followed it up with an absolute beat down of Kris Moutinho.

In his fight against Moutinho, Sean O'Malley landed 230 significant strikes out of 318 thrown. The fight was such a one-sided affair that O'Malley revealed his knuckles were still hurting more than a month after the fight.

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Chael Sonnen says Francis Ngannou vs. Ciryl Gane can be the biggest fight in heavyweight history

Former UFC middleweight Chael Sonnen expressed his views on the upcoming battle between two heavyweight titans, Francis Ngannou and Ciryl Gane, at UFC 270.

'The American Gangster' asserted that the undisputed title fight between Ciryl Gane and 'The Predator' has all the ingredients to become one of the biggest fights in UFC history.

"I do believe that in the next month, you are going to see promotion like you've rarely seen in this sport. I believe the marketing and PR that's going to be rolled out for Ngannou vs. Gane is going to turn that into potentially the biggest heavyweight fight of all time. And that is saying a lot when for a while the heavyweight division had a huge star named Brock Lesnar. I think this fight can break Brock numbers," opined Chael Sonnen.

Watch Chael Sonnen giving his take on the state of the UFC heavyweight division:

While Sonnen's reasoning isn't flawed, the UFC has seen massive heavyweight matchups in the past. Former UFC superstars like Brock Lesnar, Frank Mir, Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier have all experienced tremendous success inside the octagon and have managed to pull in millions of eyes from their fights.