Unbeaten Josh Hokit Gets His Shot at Ciryl Gane's Heavyweight Crown as Amanda Nunes Returns at the Garden

Fight week is underway in New York, and it ends Saturday night with the heaviest prize in combat sports on the line. UFC 334 at Madison Square Garden is headlined by Ciryl Gane defending the undisputed heavyweight championship against unbeaten American challenger Josh Hokit, with Kayla Harrison putting her women's bantamweight title up against a returning Amanda Nunes in the co-main event ^[1][5].

The early prelims start at 5 p.m. Eastern, the prelims at 7 p.m. and the main card at 9 p.m., with the full card streaming on Paramount+, according to Uncrowned ^[5]. The fighters faced off in Times Square on Tuesday, a press conference is set for Thursday and ceremonial weigh-ins follow on Friday, SB Nation reported ^[6].

How Gane became the undisputed champion

The French heavyweight took a winding road to this belt. His first title fight with Tom Aspinall, at UFC 321 in October 2025, was ruled a no-contest after eye pokes, Reuters reported ^[3]. With Aspinall still sidelined by eye problems, Gane won the interim title, and in September Aspinall vacated the championship because of continuing complications from the eye injury ^[3].

That left a question about Gane's status. UFC president Dana White first suggested Gane still needed to win a fight to be the full champion, then clarified that Gane would be recognized as the undisputed titleholder, Cageside Press reported ^[4]. Saturday is his first defense of that undisputed belt.

For a fighter who has spent years chasing heavyweight gold, Saturday is the chance to make the championship his in the cage as well as on paper.

Hokit's road from the gridiron to the Garden

The challenger's story is the one American fight fans will be talking about. Hokit is 10-0 and 4-0 inside the UFC after earning a contract on Dana White's Contender Series in August 2025, UFC.com reported ^[2]. His UFC wins include a decision over veteran Curtis Blaydes at UFC 327 and a TKO of Derrick Lewis at UFC Freedom 250, the card held on the White House grounds in June ^[2].

Before he was a fighter, Hokit was an All-American wrestler and a football player at Fresno State, and he spent time on the San Francisco 49ers' practice squad, according to UFC.com ^[2]. He has never been shy about his approach. "I'm here to not play it safe, and win at all costs," he told UFC.com ^[2].

Not everyone has enjoyed his outspokenness. White has been openly critical of some of Hokit's public comments, saying, "I literally don't like anything Josh Hokit says," Cageside Press reported ^[4]. White still gave him the title shot, and now Hokit gets to answer the critics in the cage.

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Harrison and Nunes: a long-delayed showdown

The co-main event has been a long time coming. Harrison, a two-time Olympic judo gold medalist and former PFL champion, won the UFC bantamweight title by submitting Julianna Peña at UFC 316, and this is her first defense, according to Uncrowned ^[5]. The fight with Nunes was first scheduled for UFC 324 in January, but Harrison withdrew with a neck injury that required surgery ^[5].

Nunes retired in June 2023 after beating Irene Aldana at UFC 289 ^[5]. Saturday will be her first fight in more than three years, and it comes against a former American Top Team training partner ^[5].

The rest of the card

The main card also features middleweights Caio Borralho and Yousri Belgaroui, welterweights Uros Medic and Kevin Holland, and flyweights Bilal Hasan and Luis Gurule ^[5]. On the prelims, veteran striker Stephen Thompson meets Charles Radtke in what Uncrowned reported is billed as his final UFC fight, and longtime lightweight Jim Miller faces Terrance McKinney ^[5].

Jessie's take

There is something fitting about this fight landing in the Garden. Hokit took the hard road: a wrestling mat, a college football field, an NFL practice squad and then the Contender Series ^[2]. He did not get handed anything, and one of his biggest wins came on a card celebrating America's 250th birthday at the White House ^[2].

Gane is the more polished fighter on paper, and the champion deserves the respect that comes with the belt. But heavyweight fights can turn on one punch or one takedown, and an undefeated former football player with nothing to lose is a dangerous man to share a cage with. Whatever happens Saturday night, both men earned their way to the main event, and that is worth tuning in for.