Ciryl Gane will make the first defence of his heavyweight title against Josh Hokit at UFC 334 in New York on Saturday.
The Frenchman was promoted to undisputed champion in September after Britain’s Tom Aspinall vacated the belt because of complications in recovering from an eye injury.
Advertisement
The co-main event at Madison Square Garden features the return of UFC legend Amanda Nunes, who faces Kayla Harrison for the bantamweight title.
The fight was originally set to take placed in January but was postponed after American champion Harrison suffered a neck injury.
Britain’s Chris Duncan is also in action, with the 33-year-old Scotsman taking on American lightweight Drew Dober on the prelims.
Everything you need to know about UFC 334 is below.
What are the UK times for UFC 334?
The main card is expected to start at 02:00 GMT, with the headline fight between Gane and Hokit likely to take place at around 04:30 GMT on Sunday.
Advertisement
The prelims are set to start at 00:00.
Main card from 02:00 GMT:
-
Ciryl Gane v Josh Hokit (UFC world heavyweight title)
-
Kayla Harrison v Amanda Nunes (UFC women’s bantamweight world title)
-
Caio Borralho v Yousri Belgaroui (middleweight)
-
Uros Medic v Kevin Holland (welterweight)
-
Bilal Hasan v Luis Gurule (flyweight)
Prelims from 00:00:
-
Stephen Thompson v Charles Radtke (welterweight)
-
Drew Dober v Chris Duncan (lightweight)
-
Jim Miller v Terrance McKinney (lightweight)
-
Donte Johnson v Cesar Almeida (middleweight)
All you need to know about Gane and Hokit
Gane beat Alex Pereira for the interim heavyweight title at the UFC’s White House event in June.
That bout was set up while former champion Aspinall was unable to compete after suffering an eye injury at the hands of Gane in October 2025 in a bout deemed a no-contest.
The UFC’s plan was for a rematch between Aspinall and Gane for the undisputed title, but with the Briton still unable to compete, he vacated the belt with Gane being upgraded from interim champion.
It marked the first time Gane, 36, has held the undisputed belt after losing in title fights against Francis Ngannou in 2022 and Jon Jones in 2023.
Advertisement
Gane debuted in 2018 and has won 14 of his 17 fights while securing seven knockouts.
American Hokit is fifth in the UFC heavyweight rankings and is fighting for the title after only one year in the organisation.
The 28-year-old debuted in the UFC last November and has won all four fights since, with his last win coming against Derrick Lewis in June.
In a similar vein to Colby Covington, Hokit adopts various controversial personas and characters during interviews to generate attention from fans.
He has been accused of overstepping the line into discrimination, however, after making racially aggravating and misogynistic comments in his post UFC 324 interview in January.
Advertisement
After Hokit directed misogynistic comments towards former First Lady Michelle Obama in June, UFC president Dana White described his words as “gross”, “moronic”, and “inappropriate”.
Former NFL player Hokit is unbeaten since his MMA debut in 2023, winning all 10 fights with six of his wins coming via knockout.
Gane is the pre-fight favourite to beat Hokit and retain his heavyweight title.
All you need to know about Harrison and Nunes
Nunes (right) is the only woman to win UFC titles in two divisions [Getty Images]
The contest between Harrison and Nunes is being described by pundits as one of the biggest women’s fights in UFC history.
The pair are friends and former team-mates at American Top Team Gym, before Brazil’s Nunes left in 2022.
Advertisement
Nunes, 38, is widely regarded as the best women’s MMA fighter of all time.
The former featherweight and bantamweight champion is the only woman in history to hold two UFC titles in two weight classes simultaneously.
She retired in 2023, bringing her glittering 15-year career to a close after winning 23 of her 28 fights, with 13 wins coming via knockout.
Nunes’ bout against Harrison will be her first since she defended the UFC bantamweight title against Irene Aldana in 2023, before later retiring and vacating the belt.
Harrison won the title off Julianna Pena last year and is making the first defence of her belt.
Advertisement
The 36-year-old is a former two-time PFL lightweight world champion, before claiming gold in the UFC in only her third fight in the promotion.
Overall, Harrison has won 19 of her 20 fights with her only defeat coming against Larissa Pacheco in 2022.
Nunes holds a number of UFC records at bantamweight, including the most wins (13), finishes (eight) and longest win streak (nine).
Harrison is the pre-fight favourite to beat Nunes and retain her bantamweight title.
More MMA from the BBC
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
