When one of the best heavyweights who ever lived looks at a guy with four UFC fights and says the title shot is earned, I listen. When that same guy name-drops Conor McGregor in the next breath, I listen harder. Cain Velasquez did both this week, and then he went ahead and picked Josh Hokit to take Ciryl Gane’s belt at UFC 334.
I think he’s right about the pick. I think he’s half right about McGregor, and the half he skipped matters.
The case for the résumé
Velasquez opened with the fighting, which is the correct order. He told MMA Fighting that Hokit has proven himself, then added, “He deserves what he’s getting as far as a title shot, you know? He’s fought those guys to get there.”
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Hard to argue. Hokit has competed four times in the UFC, and 2026 has been his year, a 3-0 run that includes a Fight of the Year contender against Curtis Blaydes at UFC 327 in April and a stoppage of Derrick Lewis at UFC White House. Blaydes and Lewis are two names every heavyweight contender has had to get past at some point, and Hokit went through both in the same calendar year. That’s a fast rise, and it’s a legit one.
Where the McGregor comparison lands, and where it wobbles
Here’s Velasquez’s exact framing: “And he’s also taking the route, somewhat of a Conor McGregor, to speak in a way that creates tension.”
The hedge in the middle of that sentence is doing the heavy lifting, and I’d lean on it even harder than Cain did. The McGregor blueprint, as fans remember it, is a guy who talks his way into a bigger spotlight than the matchmaking alone would give him, then shows up and makes the talk look like a forecast. Hokit has the first part handled. He came out of nowhere into a heavyweight title fight at Madison Square Garden, and he made sure everybody knew his name on the way.
The problem is the material. MMA Fighting noted that Hokit’s comments about opponents, their family members and even Michelle Obama have rubbed people the wrong way, and that list includes UFC CEO Dana White. I love a villain. I’ll buy the pay-per-view to watch a villain get his teeth knocked in or watch him pull it off. But the good heel work sells the fight in front of you. Dragging relatives in, or a former First Lady who has nothing to do with a heavyweight title fight, doesn’t sell a single ticket that the Blaydes war didn’t already sell. When the guy signing your checks is annoyed, you’ve drifted off the McGregor script and into the comment section.
So yes, he’s creating tension. Velasquez nailed that part. Whether it’s the useful kind is a separate question, and Saturday answers it either way.
Gane’s belt has an asterisk on it
Now flip to the champion, because this is where Velasquez’s pick starts to look less like a hot take and more like common sense.
Gane hasn’t had a clean title win yet. In October 2025 at UFC 321, his fight with then-champ Tom Aspinall was ruled a no-contest after Gane landed a nasty eye poke. Aspinall hasn’t fought since and eventually vacated. Gane then beat Alex Pereira for the interim belt at UFC White House, but shots to the back of the head during the finishing sequence took a lot of the shine off it. After Aspinall vacated, Gane got bumped to undisputed.
That’s a champion whose last two big moments both ended with people arguing about the rules instead of the result. I’m not blaming Gane for the promotion; the UFC handed him the belt and he took it, like anyone would. But nobody walks into MSG thinking of Gane as an untouchable king. He’s a guy who still has to win one cleanly.
The technical pick
Velasquez didn’t hedge. “I think way, way more complete than Gane is,” he said of Hokit, pointing to the wrestling and the hands as the tools that will surprise people.
The part I like best is the bit about pressure. “When the time comes to fight in a big stage, that’s the hardest part where everybody’s watching,” Velasquez said, adding that Hokit has proven he can handle it before closing with, “I see him winning this fight.”
Think about the receipts on that. Hokit and Gane both fought on the UFC White House card, the biggest stage the promotion has built in years. Hokit left with a stoppage of Derrick Lewis that nobody is debating. Gane left with a belt and a replay argument. If the big-moment test is the one Velasquez cares about, Hokit already passed it on the same night Gane got a conditional grade.
I’m with Cain on the result. I’d just like Hokit to save the family material and let the wrestling do the talking, because a challenger who backs up the noise against a champion who still needs a clean signature win is the best possible version of this fight. Gane and Hokit step into the cage Saturday, November 14, in the main event at Madison Square Garden, and if Hokit wins, the McGregor comparison stops being a stretch.
