Ciryl Gane makes the first defense of the undisputed UFC heavyweight title against Josh Hokit on Saturday, Nov. 14, in the main event of UFC 334 at Madison Square Garden. The main card starts at 9 p.m. ET on Paramount+. Kayla Harrison defends the women’s bantamweight belt against Amanda Nunes in the co-main.
The road to this belt is a mess, and everyone covering the card has said so. Gane (14-2, 1 NC) won the interim title by beating Alex Pereira on the White House lawn, a win that included some shots to the back of the head. The belt became undisputed after Tom Aspinall vacated in September. Aspinall’s eye injury came from Gane’s fingers in their October 2025 no contest. Before that, Gane got the Aspinall fight off a split decision over Alexander Volkov, a result MMA Mania’s betting preview called one of the worst high-profile robberies in a while. I agree. Volkov’s ground work in that rematch should have been scored, and it wasn’t.
Hokit is 10-0 with six knockouts and 4-0 in the UFC, and he’s 28 to Gane’s 36. He earned a short-notice slot at UFC Freedom 250 with a wild win over Curtis Blaydes, then stopped Derrick Lewis by TKO at the White House. Gane holds a 6-foot-4, 81-inch-reach frame against Hokit’s 6-foot-1, 73 inches. Hokit’s best credential for this fight sits on his résumé: he wrestled at Fresno State.
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That matters because Gane’s two losses, to Francis Ngannou and Jon Jones, both came when he got taken down or tied up. Jones finished him with a guillotine in Round 1. Athlon’s breakdown notes Gane’s official UFC numbers show him 35-0 in rounds fought purely on the feet. The Yahoo predictions piece argued a wrestling-heavy plan from Hokit is unlikely given how he’s built his fighting style so far, and it flagged his gas tank as a concern after the Lewis win. Odds have Gane between -205 and -245 depending on the book.
Off the mat, Hokit has made plenty of noise, including a diss track aimed at Gane. Dana White has said he detested a remark Hokit made about Michelle Obama at the White House event.
Harrison vs. Nunes and the rest
Harrison won the belt with a kimura over Julianna Pena in June 2025, then had neck surgery and roughly a year of recovery. She has said bulging disks remain, and that fixing all of them would have meant retiring. Nunes walked away in 2023 after a decision over Irene Aldana with a 16-2 UFC record. Ariel Helwani has floated the possibility that this ends up a double retirement fight. Harrison sits around -190.
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Caio Borralho meets Yousri Belgaroui at middleweight, Uroš Medić puts a four-fight first-round knockout streak against Kevin Holland, and 10-0 flyweight Bilal Hasan opens the main card against Luis Gurule. On the prelims, Stephen Thompson has his retirement fight against Charles Radtke, and Jim Miller makes his 48th UFC walk against Terrance McKinney.
My take: Hokit’s shot at the belt is single-legs along the fence in the first five minutes, while his lungs are fresh and Gane is still finding his range. If he tries to win a kickboxing match against that jab instead, he’s fighting the one version of Gane nobody has beaten. I think he swings, so I’m taking Gane by TKO in Round 3. In the co-main I’ll take Harrison, because Nunes hasn’t had to defend a judoka’s clinch in three years, and fence time wins rounds. Watch Borralho, too. If he keeps boxing with Belgaroui after the first exchange instead of changing levels, he loses.
