Overview
- Tom Aspinall relinquished the UFC heavyweight title earlier this month, and matchmakers promoted Ciryl Gane to undisputed champion before booking Gane to defend the belt against Josh Hokit at UFC 334 on November 14 at Madison Square Garden.
- Alexander Volkov criticized the Hokit selection on The Ariel Helwani Show on Sept. 23 by sarcastically calling Hokit “clearly dealing with some mental illness,” and Hokit replied the same day on X by mocking Volkov’s recent losses and questioning his roster spot.
- Several former fighters and pundits, including Chris Weidman, Dustin Poirier and Jorge Masvidal, have publicly backed Hokit as a realistic upset threat, with Weidman outlining a pressure‑and‑wrestling route he says could wear down Gane.
- Critics say the UFC skipped over established contenders such as Volkov and Sergei Pavlovich when awarding Hokit a title shot, a choice that has intensified debate over matchmaking criteria and the division’s pecking order.
- Beyond the online back‑and‑forth, the situation flows from Aspinall’s ongoing eye injuries and a reshuffled top five, so UFC 334 will both resolve the vacant title picture in the cage and test whether the promotion’s rapid elevation of Hokit was justified.