Josh Hokit may not have won Saturday night at UFC 334, but he still delivered a memorable performance in his first UFC main event.
Heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane successfully defended his title with a unanimous decision win over Hokit at New York’s Madison Square Garden, a bout that earned Fight of the Night honors and a $100,000 performance bonus for each man.
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Although the result marked Hokit’s first career defeat in 11 pro fights, UFC CEO Dana White couldn’t have been more impressed with the outspoken contender.
“It was an incredible fight,” White said backstage at the UFC 334 post-fight press conference. “The pace he set was insane, and I think it was freaking everybody out — this smaller guy, the way he was just coming at [Gane]. But even if you look at the significant strikes, they were doubling every round. The total punch stats were massive, too.
“If you see the score of the fight, they had it two-to-two going into the last round. I didn’t see it that way, but it doesn’t tell the story of the fight either. You have to see the fight to believe it.”
Hokit, 28, has experienced a meteoric rise since joining the promotion a year ago. In that time, White has openly admitted a distaste for how the former NFL player has presented himself with his character work and controversial comments, most notably when Hokit insulted former First Lady Michelle Obama on the White House’s South Lawn.
Ciryl Gane and Josh Hokit had an all-out war of attrition Saturday at UFC 334.
(Caleb Bowlin via Getty Images)
White said he even scored Saturday’s fight four rounds to one in favor of Gane — yet he still believes the fight went perfectly for Hokit, despite a loss being the official result.
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“What he did was he went in there, and if you really think about going into this fight: How does Josh Hokit win this fight?” White said. “Ciryl Gane moves like a middleweight. He turned it into a street fight from the second the bell rang in the first round. Literally, he didn’t win, but he fought the perfect fight. What other way could he possibly fight Ciryl Gane than the way that he did?
“My thing was, after the first round, holy s*** — if he can keep this pace for five rounds, Gane’s in big trouble. Too big, carries too much muscle and blah, blah, blah. But actually, Gane looked his best in the fourth and fifth rounds.
“There’s no doubt that Hokit’s stock goes up. Even with me,” White continued. “I thought this guy was a big-mouth goofball and I hated his schtick and the whole thing. I respect the s*** out of that guy [now]. He is the real deal. Stock went up with me.”
Hokit beat two longtime heavyweight contenders, Curtis Blaydes and Derrick Lewis, to earn his title shot. The latter came on the big stage that was UFC Freedom 250 at the White House in June. Before and after that fight, it seemed more likely Hokit would face former two-division champion Alex Pereira than earn a title shot, especially since Pereira lost to Gane that same night in the nation’s capital.
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Hokit and Pereira haven’t been fond of each other since, but they were cordial when interacting backstage at UFC 334. Pereira has to get through Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 335 next month, but after that, White likes the idea of matching them together.
“There we go. We’re headed in the right direction,” White said. “That’s a fun fight now, right? We’ll see what happens with Pereira and go from there.”
As entertaining as the UFC 334 main event may have been, it all came at the expense of former champion Tom Aspinall. The British finisher last fought in October 2025, when he suffered injuries from eye pokes against Gane that have since kept him sidelined.
Aspinall relinquished his title in September due to the prolonged recovery. As things stand, he’s still next in line for the title he never lost, according to White.
“Our deal with him is: When you’re ready, call us,” White said.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
