Josh Hokit is going back to his wrestling for Ciryl Gane, and the man who has been in the room with him says the plan is to put the Frenchman on his back and keep him there.
Cody East, Hokit’s training partner at Jackson Wink, laid out the approach in an exclusive interview with Bloody Elbow ahead of Hokit’s heavyweight title shot against Gane in the UFC 334 main event at Madison Square Garden. The short version: no kickboxing contest. East said the camp wants Hokit to attack Gane in the same way that cost him against Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou.
“Ciryl Gane has very good movement and we can’t get into playing tag with him,” East said. “You can’t beat him in that kind of fight. You’ve got to pressure him and put him on his back.”
East also gave Gane some credit. He said the Jones loss, where Gane got rag dolled, wasn’t a fair picture of what Gane can do on the mat. He also said Gane didn’t look comfortable fighting off his back, and that “Josh is going to put him on his back and rough him up.”
Then came the line that probably sums up the whole camp. “I’m sure Ciryl Gane will get up a few times but can you do that for five rounds?” East said, adding that he expects Hokit to grind Gane down in an ugly fight.
How Hokit got here
The rise has been absurd. Hokit hadn’t fought in the UFC this time last year. Four wins later, plus some reshuffling at the top of the division, he’s fighting for the belt inside a year of his debut.
The funny part is how he won those four. Hokit was an NCAA Division I All-American wrestler while also playing football at Fresno State, and he’s a former NFL player. Then he got to the UFC and knocked out three opponents on the feet. The fourth win was a decision over Curtis Blaydes that went down as a Fight of the Year contender.
Gane is the toughest test of his career by a wide margin. He’s a decorated kickboxer and a two-time interim heavyweight champion (two interim belts, which tells you plenty about how this division has been run) and now holds the real one. His résumé includes wins over Alex Pereira, Junior Dos Santos, and Alexander Volkov twice. His two big losses came against Jones and Ngannou, which is exactly the tape Hokit’s camp has been studying.
East has been here before. He said he helped Jones prepare for his first title fight and has worked plenty of world title camps. He’s also got his own business tonight, facing Isaac Villanueva in Biloxi for BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing.
East did leave the door open for chaos. He said Hokit might hear everyone telling him to take Gane out and decide to prove a point, and that “he’s got three personalities so you never know which one is going to show up!”
Quick take
This is the right plan, and it’s also the obvious one, which means Gane’s camp has been drilling for it since the fight was signed. Jones needed two minutes and change to show Gane’s weakness. Hokit has to show it for up to 25 minutes against a guy who will have spent a whole camp getting up off the fence. If the wrestler shows up at Madison Square Garden instead of the guy who wants to trade with a kickboxer, Hokit has a real shot at walking out with the belt.
