Jon Jones has picked his lane for UFC 334, and it runs straight through the wrestling room. “I’ve Always Supported Wrestlers,” Jones said, according to a headline from MMA Sucka on Oct. 10, which framed his comments as a prediction for Josh Hokit vs. Ciryl Gane. The full wording of his pick wasn’t in the material available to us, so read that line as a statement of loyalty to Hokit’s style. It isn’t a published round-by-round forecast.
The loyalty has roots. Jones was a standout high school wrestler at Union-Endicott in New York, and as a junior in 2004 he won the Northeast Junior Greco-Roman Regional Championship at 189 pounds. He’s also a Jackson-Wink MMA product, and so is Hokit, according to Knockout Daily’s Cagefile data. A teammate backing a teammate is about as surprising as a pressure fighter leading with the jab, but Jones has a second credential here. He beat Gane in 2023 to win the UFC heavyweight title, which he held until retiring in 2025. Few people alive have spent more time solving Gane in a cage.
Hokit is 10-0 and sits at No. 10 in our heavyweight rankings. He was a two-time All-American wrestler at Fresno State, where he also played tight end and fullback before signing with the San Francisco 49ers as an undrafted free agent in 2020. He started his MMA career in Bellator, finishing Spencer Smith with an arm-triangle in Round 3 at Bellator 300 and Sean Rose with an armbar in Round 2 at Bellator Champions Series 4. His last fight was June 14, 2026.
View post on X
Not everyone at heavyweight shares Jones’s enthusiasm. Alexander Volkov, speaking to Helen Yee, called a potential fight with Hokit “the easiest fight ever, easier title shot,” then added, “we should probably bet on Gane.” Alex Pereira took issue with the billing instead, asking in a post shared by Championship Rounds, “Why the Women’s Fight is not the Main Event?”
View post on X
The question for Hokit is the one every wrestler faces against Gane: can he close distance on a long, mobile striker without eating shots on the way in? Jones answered it in 2023 with a clinch entry and a guillotine. Hokit gets his turn when he headlines against Gane at UFC 334 on Nov. 14, 2026.
View post on X
