It turns out that Josh Hokit isn’t one for slow starts. He flipped off Bruce Buffer before his name could be called. He flipped off Ciryl Gane before they could exchange a punch.
And he was in on Gane’s legs within the opening seconds of their heavyweight title fight Saturday night at UFC 334, which put the Parisian in fend-off mode for the better part of three rounds. At times it looked like Gane was shooting the rapids, searching for a low-hanging branch to grab onto and drag himself ashore. Hokit changed levels so often that Gane felt seasick with the up-and-down onslaught of the waves.
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Yet something happened down the stretch that you don’t commonly see in heavyweight fights, at least not in the UFC. As Hokit continued to put on what can only be considered a preternatural pace for the weight class, Gane caught a second wind. Though at times it looked like he was fading early on, slowing down particularly in the second and third rounds, he dug deep in the championship rounds to defend his title going away.
That was the unsung factor in UFC 334’s main event at Madison Square Garden. The defiance of the Frenchman, whom many believed would wilt under the pressure if Hokit was able to fight the kind of fight that he did. Not only did he persevere, he flourished down the stretch against unceasing pressure. He held his range better and rooted himself to the earth, making himself invulnerable to take downs. He snapped off sniping shots that kept the bandanaed devil from becoming a whirling dervish. There was a crispness to his shots that ran counter to just about all expectations.
And he quietly declared, against the noise of the backdrop and the hysteria of Hokamania, that he was the champion.
Ciryl Gane officially has his first title heavyweight defense in the books.
(Jeff Bottari via Getty Images)
It sounds dumb to say it, since he wore the belt to the fight. But within the scrutiny of an aura-deficient division, he put some respect on his name. There was a vibe, whether the UFC was willing to admit it or not, that Gane was the division’s Great Consolation. Each time a champion left, disappeared, or ended up standing in for the vacant title in the last few years, Gane was thrust into the equation.
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He was constantly winning these raffles, yet the fact that he lost a couple of high-profile fights buried him into the “really good, not great” bin of contenders. Francis Ngannou beat him while compromised with a knee injury, and Jon Jones blew through him in a way that did permanent damage to his stock. That’s why he feels like the kind of champion whose belt is bejeweled with sparking asterisks.
That’s where the defiance came in, that second wind. If fighting is symbolism for broader truths, this was the display of heart that was needed to get past some preconceived notions, if not some onuses. It is true that there was an eye-poke in the first round that confounded the entire fan base, given not only the blatancy of the foul, but the audacity of it. It was a similar eye-poke that put Tom Aspinall out of the game and forced him to vacate his title, some four surgeries later. Those fingers, just as long and menacing as ET’s, are the reason Gane was “undisputed” at all.
We use quotes here because … well, I just explained it. It was perhaps a testament to Hokit’s character that he moved past the foul as best he could and didn’t seek a retaliation (as he warned he would in the leadup).
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If referee Marc Goddard had caught the poke and had taken a point, as he’s been wont to do in recent bouts, the title fight would’ve ended in a draw. All of that should be taken into account, as Gane is where he is largely based on the things he’s gotten by with. There’s no doubt that the “cheating” accusation will follow him into his next title defense, whether it’s against Aspinall or Alex Pereira (whom he clubbed in the back of the head at the White House in June) or Alexander Volkov (whom he lost to two years ago, though got his hand raised), and it should.
But Goddard didn’t see it.
And zooming out, the championship rounds Gane put in against Hokit were still declarative, in that who knew he had it in him? The smaller Hokit gave him all that he could handle for 25 straight minutes, and the merciless pace alone should’ve been the thing that broke him. It didn’t. There were 383 significant strikes landed at the very Mecca for heavyweight fights, and Hokit landed 146 of them. Gane himself, under fire and forced to throw on the balls of his feet, landed 237. There were 30 takedown attempts over 25 minutes, too, six per round, some of them more meaningful than others. Some of them smoke and mirrors.
Gane only succumbed to three.
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And as the fight wore on, as his stamina was supposed to have been drained, he found in his reserves the kind of thing that jars some asterisks loose from that belt. He showed a champion’s mettle, that could’ve only been demonstrated under the kind of duress he faced. Maybe Hokit doesn’t have traditional heavyweight power, which makes for wild endurance tests like we saw Saturday night.
But Hokit fought the fight he had to in order to win, and he came up short because Gane wouldn’t be denied. Condemn him for his fouls, but the champion proved he’s worthy of holding the belt by putting on the best fight of his career, right when the spotlight was at its hottest.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
