NEW YORK – For the first time Saturday, Ciryl Gane will be in a title fight as a champion and not chasing a belt.
The circumstances under which Gane got there forever will be part of UFC heavyweight lore, and that’s something the champ can’t change. Gane won an interim heavyweight belt in June against Alex Pereira. It was a masterful performance, albeit one marred in the aftermath with Pereira complaints about strikes to the back of the head and Herb Dean’s officiating.
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Then Gane was elevated to full champion when Tom Aspinall had to vacate in the wake of continued trouble with his vision – an issue that persists because he was poked in both eyes by Gane when they fought in October 2025.
And while Gane (14-2 MMA, 11-2 UFC) said he’s hoping for an eventual Aspinall full recovery so they can have a rematch, his first attempted title defense will come against someone he couldn’t have imagined fighting when he first fought Aspinall.
Josh Hokit (10-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) will stand across from Gane on Saturday in the UFC 334 (Paramount+) main event, replete with an obnoxious persona that leans into the type of R-rated trash talk that makes pimple-popping 14-year-olds glaze him in their dude-bro circles – but also a wrestling skill set that could cause the new champ some problems at Madison Square Garden, and he knows it.
“I knew everything was possible. I knew it,” Gane said of the matchup at Wednesday’s UFC 334 media day. “But (picking an opponent) is not my part. It’s the part of the UFC. That’s not my job. I just to go to the gym and train with my team. That’s it.
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“(We’re) 100 percent (ready for wrestling). We’ve improved a lot on this part of the game and I’ve felt comfortable on the ground game a long time ago already. I remember during press conferences, every time I say I’m not afraid to go to the ground – I’m not afraid of the wrestling game and the grappling game. But we like to win with a masterclass, and we know already in the striking game, I’m pretty good.”
“Pretty good.” In other words, why wrestle when you can just take people out with your fists? And that’s what the 36-year-old Frenchmen has done in four of his past five wins.
The evidence out there against him that he might struggle on the mat comes from Jon Jones’ first-round submission of him in a 2023 vacant title fight, presumably. But Gane is about as concerned about that, it seems, as he is concerned about Gane’s trash talk.
That talk brought Gane’s mother into the equation this week, often a bridge too far for most fighters. But Gane is trying to blow Hokit off.
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“For my part, nothing is going to change,” Gane said. “I have values. Even if you want to make me make a mistake (and respond), I’m not going to do it. If you want to say something to me, tell me. If you want to say something to my mom, let me call her. You’re going to say whatever you want to my mom, and maybe she’s going to tell you, ‘Hey son, that’s not good.’ That’s it.
“(I’ve prepared) nothing special for that. You’re going to try to get in my head, but no matter. No matter.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Ciryl Gane tries to ignore UFC 334 court jester Josh Hokit from throne
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