Ciryl Gane survived a wild five-round battle with Josh Hokit to retain his UFC heavyweight championship on Saturday night at UFC 334, and unsurprisingly, the chaotic main event at Madison Square Garden had the MMA world buzzing, according to “Yahoo Sports”.
Gane defeated Hokit by unanimous decision, sweeping the judges’ scorecards with identical 48-47 scores in an electric back-and-forth affair to hand the previously undefeated challenger his first professional loss, as reported by “Yahoo Sports”.
The fight featured a relentless pace rarely seen at heavyweight, with Hokit taking control early before fading in the championship rounds, per “Yahoo Sports”.
As he tends to do in these situations, former UFC two-division champion Jon Jones was among those first to react to Saturday’s result, taking several swipes at Hokit over previous comments Hokit made about the future Hall of Famer, according to “Yahoo Sports”.
Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, the sport’s lineal heavyweight champion who previously defeated Gane in their January 2022 title unification bout, offered a much more congratulatory response to his former teammate, per “Yahoo Sports”.
Gane’s victory ultimately marked the first successful defense of his heavyweight reign and handed Hokit the first loss of his professional mixed martial arts career, as noted by “Yahoo Sports”.
The result capped off the organization’s latest voyage to Madison Square Garden, with a UFC 334 card that also featured Kayla Harrison successfully defending her women’s bantamweight title against all-time great Amanda Nunes in the co-main event, according to “Yahoo Sports”.
Other fighters also chimed in on social media to express their awe at the grueling pace set during the heavyweight main event, per live reporting from “Yahoo Sports”.