Ciryl Gane is tired of hearing that heavyweight is broken. The UFC heavyweight champion, a week out from his first title defense against Josh Hokit at UFC 334, said fans are watching the strongest version of the division the promotion has ever had.
“I heard a lot of people talking about the division of heavyweight [being] a little bit poor,” Gane said in an interview with the UFC, which UFC France posted on X on Nov. 6. “I think the heavyweight division, actually may be the best moment of the heavyweight division’s history.”
He also said flatly that the top 10 is incredible, as MMA Fighting first reported.
View post on X
That’s a bold read on a weight class whose title picture has been a mess for more than a year. Gane and Tom Aspinall met at UFC 321 in October 2025, and the fight ended in a no-contest after accidental eye pokes from Gane left Aspinall unable to continue. Gane then beat Alex Pereira for an interim belt at UFC White House. With Aspinall still not back, the UFC promoted Gane to undisputed champion.
So the man calling this a golden age holds the belt partly because the other guy couldn’t see. Gane didn’t pretend things were tidy, either.
“The heavyweight division looks a little bit crazy,” he said. “Like, with Josh Hokit, he jumped for the title shot. When you see a guy like [Alexander] Volkov, he deserves it.”
Gane added that the UFC has a tough balancing act because a title fight is also a promotion, and he said he could understand both sides.
Hokit is the reason that balance tipped. The undefeated heavyweight earned his contract on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2025 and has had a breakout year since: a knockout of Derrick Lewis at UFC White House, followed by a Fight of the Year contender against Curtis Blaydes at UFC 327. He has also made a name with off-color and offensive comments outside the cage, which hasn’t slowed his climb at all.
The rest of the division is a mixed bag. Several veteran contenders are starting to look their age, and prospects like Gable Steveson are still figuring things out. The UFC’s latest Meta Rankings, excluding Gane, go Aspinall, Volkov, Pereira, Sergei Pavlovich, Hokit, Blaydes, Rizvan Kuniev, Waldo Cortes Acosta, Vitor Petrino and Mario Pinto.
Gane vs. Hokit headlines UFC 334 on Saturday, Nov. 14, with the main card starting at 9 p.m. ET on Paramount Plus.
My take: “best ever” is a stretch for a division whose No. 1 contender is a guy who hasn’t fought since getting poked out of a title fight, and whose champion started out holding an interim belt. I’ll give Gane real credit, though. Most champions asked about a hand-picked challenger recite the company line. He said out loud that Volkov earned the shot, and you don’t hear that often in a fight-week interview. If Hokit puts him on his back on the 14th, the argument about how good this division is gets a lot louder.
