Stipe Miocic is taking the champion. The former two-time UFC heavyweight titleholder picked Ciryl Gane to beat Josh Hokit in Saturday’s UFC 334 main event at Madison Square Garden, and his reasoning comes down to mileage. Gane has shared the cage with Jon Jones, Francis Ngannou and Alex Pereira. Hokit hasn’t seen anything like that yet.
In an interview with Casino.org, Miocic said plainly that he likes Gane, calling him seasoned, someone who has been there before, and very smart at what he does.
Gane (14-2 MMA, 11-2 UFC) puts his heavyweight belt on the line against Hokit (10-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) on Paramount+. Miocic gave Hokit credit as a hard hitter and a strong wrestler, but he thinks the fight lives and dies on range. In his read, a Gane who keeps his distance and stays disciplined has a good night.
The wrestling question
Miocic’s pick runs against a few other veterans. Chris Weidman and Jorge Masvidal have both suggested Hokit’s wrestling and pressure could break Gane down. Miocic isn’t sold on that path.
He acknowledged that Hokit is a wrestler but said wrestling isn’t always the best approach. His point was simple: a fighter who is wrestling is also getting punched, kicked and kneed along the way, which leaves him vulnerable to getting hurt.
He also flagged cardio. Miocic said Hokit hasn’t really gone the distance before, and that five rounds is a different animal no matter how well conditioned a fighter thinks he is. He figures the challenger will feel it, and that a patient Gane can pick him apart.
How Gane got the belt
Gane didn’t win the undisputed title in the cage. He was promoted after Tom Aspinall vacated the belt because of a lingering eye injury, which Aspinall suffered in their no contest at UFC 321. That route to the strap has drawn some side-eye, and Miocic waved it off.
“I believe he deserves to be champion,” Miocic said, pointing out that Gane was ranked highest and was in line for a rematch before the injury ended that plan. He called the poke accidental and said Gane had control of the fight at that point, with no reason to do anything reckless.
Quick take
Miocic is right about the shape of this fight, and the five-round point carries the most weight. Wrestling a long, light-footed heavyweight means eating shots on every entry, and a single-shot wrestler gets picked off crossing the distance. Hokit’s path is chaining his attacks, using punches to get to the hips and then switching off a stuffed shot to a body lock along the fence. That’s exhausting work over 25 minutes against a man who won’t stand still. If Hokit can’t get Gane down early and keep him there, the championship rounds belong to the guy who has been in them. I’m taking Gane, and I’ll be watching the start of Round 4 closely. If Hokit is still shooting with the same pop there, Weidman and Masvidal may have the better read. We find out Saturday night in New York.
