UFC 334 Predictions:
Madison Square Garden in New York City hosts this week’s UFC 334 Gane vs. Hokit fight card, featuring a heavyweight title fight. The card includes 13 scheduled bouts, starting with early prelims at 2 p.m. PT, preliminary action at 4 p.m. PT, and the main card at 6 p.m. PT.
One important aspect of this fight card is the aggressive age differences in a handful of fights; eight feature both combatants in their thirties!
Understanding age and how it affects fighters across varying weight classes is foundational when wagering profitably in the UFC. Three athletes will be able to compete close to home, and in front of their rabid East Coast fans. Only five athletes must travel into the States from outside the country to compete.
For those fighters, when they arrive and how they manage the bloating from travel, then the weight cut and weigh-in process is important.
Last week we invested in the larger, pedigreed world-class wrestling talent Tatiana Suarez in her bout against a BJJ savant Virna Jandiroba. As handicapped, Suarez worked her takedown offense to gain top control, then dominated the grappling and the fight. She was the favorite and performed like it.
Digital results 2026: 24-17-1 +10.02u
Let’s fight!
Ciryl Gane -200 vs. Josh Hokit +175
Heavyweight (265 pounds) Championship
Former wrestler and pro football player Josh Hokit arrived on the UFC scene just months ago, speaking poop and introducing WWE gamesmanship into the UFC.
Early in his UFC career, I saw this 28-year-old fighter as a blowhard with limited wrestling and little real fighting ability. In 2026, Hokit has competed against both Derrick Lewis and Curtis Blaydes, two ranked heavyweights that were great barometers on the undersized 231-pound blabbermouth.
Lo and behold, not only did the tremendously undersized Hokit dominate a street-fighting talent and heavyweight knockout record holder, Derrick Lewis, but he also won a close, tight decision over Curtis Blaydes, whom most regard as a clear top-five talent in the division.
Hokit’s win over Blaydes displayed fight characteristics found only in world-class athletes. His cardio/conditioning, his will to win, his wrestling ability, coupled with his striking aptitude, all passed a test that only a few heavyweight fighters could pass.
I believe very few heavyweights in the UFC would have beaten Blaydes that night. Hokit earned that decision win and, along with it, my respect!
So Hokit earned this opportunity on merit in the cage, and he will compete for the heavyweight title Saturday against the champion, Ciryl Gane.
Champion Gane, now 36, enters this fight after defeating Alex Pereira last June on the Freedom 250 card held at the White House.
Gane will weigh in somewhere between 245 and 253 pounds, so he’ll be the larger man, with a two-inch height advantage and an eight-inch reach advantage. He has also faced far superior world-class competition.
Gane is unusually athletic, adroit on his feet, and fluid in evading strikes and manipulating space in the cage. He has abundant striking and kicking power, and he has evolved into a confident champion despite not being very well-versed in wrestling.
Gane fights out of Paris MMA Factory run by trainer Fernand Lopez. One aspect of this fight and one trait of the MMA Factory seems to be their willingness to push the rules, especially when it comes to eye gouging and back-of-the-head strikes.
It is a common trait of MMA Factory fighters to aggressively eye poke and press the current rules in the UFC in order to hold advantage.
Gane, his teammate middleweight Nassourdine Imavov, and other MMA Factory fighters routinely open up fights with a deliberate eye poke, as they are never penalized for the tactic and are usually just warned. Those eye pokes can transition fights in immediate fashion, and based on the results of a deep eye gouge, unfair advantage immediately sides with the ‘poker.’
The Factory uses this tactic religiously, and I expect it to be used in this fight. Why? Because there are no immediate penalties for this form of cheating. They stop the fight, allow the eye poker to rest while the one poked struggles to retain his vision.
So not only does Hokit have to navigate an aggressive incoming man who will be about 15 to 20 pounds heavier than he is, but he’ll also have to compete at a sizable disadvantage on the feet.
I look for Hokit to turn to wrestling early, wrestle often, and, if he can navigate this fight to the ground, have a real chance at earning the title.
Once the bell rings, I expect Hokit to stand with Gane only until he realizes he is completely outclassed as a striker on the feet. His next move will be to immediately try to clasp onto Gane and try to wrestle/vie with the Champion from inside the pocket. Gane’s movement, strike evasion, size, power, strength, and striking acumen will be dominant when these two are standing and in space.
Hokit will need to find a way to extend this fight, force Gane into effort early, then try to compete with the musclebound blaster after he has swole up and slowed a bit from the taxation of the fight.
Hokit has parlayed his tremendous popularity and junkyard dog traits into a championship fight with an abundance of fan excitement, which the UFC loves.
I see little reason to believe he can effectively compete against Gane in this situation.
For weeks at the ‘Bout business Podcast, I have been parlaying fighters from past cards into Ciryl Gane, thus holding him at pricing that looks like +109.
While that price is unavailable to many now, I will have approaches to invest in Gane later in the week, because in my estimation the Hokit hype train gets derailed this weekend unless he can tire the French slugger, ground him, and then earn a victory.
Gane opened at -230, and Hokit is actually taking some money, as many realize his path to victory depends on his ability to wrestle the adroit Frenchman.
In my judgment, Hokit’s path to the title Saturday night comes down to grounding the French finger pointer and wrestling him up.
Total in this fight: 3.5 Rds. Under -120
Donte Johnson -155 vs. Cesar Almeida +135
Middleweight (185 pounds)
Brazilian Almeida is a former Glory kickboxing cruiserweight champion best known for defeating UFC star Alex Pereira.
Almeida has been competing in the UFC since 2024 and holds a 3-3 record. He’s defeated nominally talented athletes no longer competing in the UFC but has been beaten by fighters like Roman Kopylov and Damian Pinas, legitimate top-20 athletes in the division.
At 38t and with a five-inch reach advantage in this bout, Almeida will look to use his length to keep Johnson at distance where his kicks can be most damaging along with his elbows and strikes.
Unfortunately for Almeida, his biggest flaw is that his 44% strike defense leaves him open to damage from competent striking-based opponents like Pinas in Almeida’s last bout, a KO loss.
In Donte Johnson, we have a young up-and-coming fighter who is raw as a just-shelled oyster. He is an aggressive, forward-pressing jackhammer who harnesses power with every strike/kick he unleashes. Johnson competes like a rabid dog from the first bell until his opponents lie quivering on the canvas.
While Almeida has advantages in size and precision striking, Johnson has a 13-year youth advantage, plus an uber-aggressive nature and bludgeoning power.
This fight will come down to how long it takes Johnson to corner Almeida and hurl howitzers his way.
At 38, Almeida, against a young man as strong, determined, powerful and unorthodox as Johnson is, will need to use his footwork early in this fight to have room to breathe, let alone unleash strikes/kicks on the incoming junkyard dog that is Donte Johnson.
Sometime in the second round, I believe Johnson’s driven, forceful forward pressure and power striking will take a toll on a 38-year-old Brazilian who isn’t ready to handle Donte Johnson’s grotesque pressure.
UFC 334 Best Bet: Donte Johnson -155
I’ll be scouring ‘Johnson via the points’ handicap and ‘inside the distance’ props once those prices are released.
Total in this fight: 1.5 Rds. Over -150
The GambLou ‘Bout Business Podcast drops Friday morning just after weigh-ins take place. Catch all of my final releases for this card across all podcast platforms or on the GambLou.com webpage. Thank you for reading, and enjoy the fights!
