UFC 334 Preview Leans on Hokit's Wrestling Against Gane
Two title fights top UFC 334 at Madison Square Garden. One preview leans on grappling in both. Its author gives Josh Hokit a path against Ciryl Gane and Kayla Harrison the edge over Amanda Nunes.
Why Harrison is the pick over Nunes
Nunes challenges Harrison for the 135-pound belt in the co-main event. She is coming back after more than three years away. She said nerve damage ended her career, and she has only one finish since summer 2019. Her record still counts for a lot: the author calls her one of the best female fighters in history, and she is the only fighter to knock out Cris Cyborg.
The preview looks at how Nunes has lost. Cat Zingano and Julianna Pena beat her by attacking her wrestling and wearing down her conditioning. The author sees Harrison, a former PFL champion and an Olympic gold medalist in judo, as the kind of grappler Nunes will struggle against. Nunes holds the division record for takedowns, 32, yet the author does not see her using them against a stronger grappler.
Harrison is not flawless. She lost to Larissa Pacheco in the PFL in late 2022, and she has not faced anyone who hits like Nunes. She is also coming off major neck surgery and has not competed in over a year. The author counters that she is now training without injury for the first time in years.
The author's forecast is short. Nunes needs a kill shot early, meaning a punch that ends the fight. If it does not come, Harrison pins her against the cage and takes away her energy.
Gane's takedown defense is the number to watch
Gane defends the heavyweight belt against Hokit in the main event, streamed on Paramount+. The author is unimpressed with his title run: it took four tries. Francis Ngannou outwrestled him at UFC 270 and Jon Jones outgrappled him at UFC 285. Against Tom Aspinall at UFC 321 he fouled his way to a no contest, a result with no winner. The belt came against Alex Pereira at UFC White House, after Aspinall vacated it.
Hokit is 29, a former NFL player and an NCAA Division I All-American wrestler from Fresno State. He stands 6'1" with a 73-inch reach, small for a heavyweight. The author still thinks his style fits the problem. Gane's takedown defense is 47 percent, so more than half of the attempts against him succeed, and Hokit averages nearly four takedowns per 15 minutes.
On his feet, Hokit looks outmatched, because the author calls him powerful but not technically sound. The preview doubts he can keep a big man down for long. So the expectation is that he repeats the same offense for as long as it works. The author's estimate is five rounds.
Reach and wrestling on the rest of the card
Uros Medic faces Kevin Holland at welterweight. Medic has finished all 14 opponents, yet he gives up 10 inches of reach and has landed one takedown in the UFC. The author expects him to panic and wrestle once Holland finds his range. Holland won a unanimous decision over Randy Brown at UFC 327 in April, which ended a two-fight losing streak.
Bilal Hasan, 25, meets Luis Gurule at flyweight. Hasan has one UFC appearance so far, a second-round finish of Nilson Rojas at UFC Shanghai, and nine of his 10 wins ended by finish, eight by knockout. He has a six-inch reach edge. Gurule has lost four of five in the UFC. The author expects Hasan to win and wonders only about the round.
Caio Borralho faces Yousri Belgaroui at middleweight. Borralho is 8-1 in the UFC and ranked sixth, but he lost to Nassourdine Imavov at UFC Paris. Belgaroui is 3-0 in the UFC, all by knockout, against opponents the author does not rate. The preview picks the more experienced Borralho.
Source: MMA Mania