Ciryl Gane didn’t win the undisputed UFC heavyweight championship inside the Octagon, but he did win the championship title at UFC 334 on Saturday. Gane survived Josh Hokit’s relentless pressure to retain his championship in his first defense of the belt.
Hokit made it clear from the first second of the fight that he would not abandon the pressure style that brought him to a title shot just over a year after he made his UFC debut. Hokit immediately shot for a takedown and never stopped coming forward, forcing Gane to go places he never had to go in his career.
Gane landed the cleaner strikes throughout the fight, but Hokit carried him by picking up the pace. This resulted in a fight where each round was difficult to score depending on whether you valued the volume of Gane’s ground strikes or whether Hokit determined how the fight would be fought.
What ultimately separated the two men was how they handled fatigue as the rounds progressed. While Gane looked tired from the first round, it was he who managed to dig deep in the championship rounds.
Hokit didn’t stop coming forward, but he lost all his strength on his punches as Gane caught his second wind. Gane was suddenly delivering a steady stream of body shots as Hokit’s offensive effectiveness faded, a result of his own approach to fighting backfiring.
After Gane appeared to have clearly won rounds 4 and 5, it came down to how the judges saw the first three rounds. And these judges all saw it for Gane, with unanimous scores of 48-47 for the champion.
Gane’s rise to the title has been unique. After losing to then-champion Francis Ngannou and then losing a fight with Jon Jones after Ngannou vacated the belt upon leaving the UFC, Gane got a third chance at the belt when he fought Tom Aspinall at UFC 321. Gane threw a pair of punches to the eyes that caused the fight to be stopped and ruled a no contest, and after Gane won the interim title by knocking out Alex Pereira on the field South of the White House, he was promoted to full champion when Aspinall vacated the belt while struggling to recover from multiple surgeries due to shots to the eyes from Gane.
Despite the unconventional path to the championship, Gane can claim to have finally won a fight for the undisputed championship by defeating Hokit. And not only did Gane finally get that victory, he did it by digging deeper than he was forced to dig as a professional and fending off an incredible challenge from a hungry challenger.
In doing so, Gane broke the UFC heavyweight record for successful significant strikes in a fight, connecting with 237. The pair combined for 383 significant strikes, also a UFC heavyweight record.
For Hokit, there are a lot of positives to take away from the fight. His brash demeanor, in which he plays a sort of parody of a professional wrestling character, may mask his talent and willingness to strike a pace that few heavyweights can sustain. It only took him four fights in the UFC to get a title shot, and he nearly won the belt despite entering as an underdog.
Hokit was not ready to give up the character after the first defeat of his young career, and claimed the belt would eventually be his.
“I will rejoice in my suffering,” Hokit said after the fight. “Suffering builds endurance, endurance builds character, and character builds hope. I will never lose hope. I will be champion one day. You can kick me when you’re down; I’ll still break your fucking leg.”
CBS Sports was with you throughout UFC 334 with live updates, results and highlights from all the action at Madison Square Garden in New York. Thanks for stopping by.
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