Tom Aspinall is taking Ciryl Gane, and he doesn’t think the UFC 334 main event goes to the cards. The former UFC heavyweight champion tipped Gane to finish Josh Hokit late, Yahoo Sports reported Saturday, hours before the two meet in the headliner.
A late stoppage is a specific pick. It means Aspinall expects Hokit to survive the early rounds and then fade against a striker who doesn’t fade.
Aspinall knows the division as well as anyone. He’s 15-3 out of Salford, England, and runs out of Aspinall BJJ. Wikipedia lists him at No. 1 in the Meta UFC heavyweight rankings and No. 7 pound for pound as of this fall. He hasn’t fought since Oct. 25, 2025, so this is a guy with a lot of time on his hands to watch tape. He’s been a finisher since day one in the UFC, starting with a first-round TKO of Jake Collier at UFC on ESPN 14 in July 2020.
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Gane comes in 14-2 out of MMA Factory, where he’s coached by Fernand Lopez. Wikipedia lists him as the current UFC heavyweight champion and the first French champion in UFC history. He last fought June 14. Before MMA he was a Muay Thai fighter who won the AFMT heavyweight title and beat multiple-time WBC Muaythai champ Yassine Boughanem by decision. Nobody needs to tell Aspinall that Gane can strike.
Hokit, meanwhile, has spent fight week being the funniest heavyweight in Vegas. Championship Rounds posted footage from the weigh-ins with a caption claiming he showed up drunk again (almost certainly a bit), then appeared to pass out on the scale and stay put for over a minute. Tommy McMillen weighed in on that one too.
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“Bro tryna hit my move,” McMillen said, per Championship Rounds.
The same account said Amanda Nunes loved a line Hokit delivered at the press conference, a crude bit about what each side of the table likes that we’ll let you look up yourself.
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None of that moves Aspinall off Gane. Hokit’s best shot is to drag the Frenchman into something ugly early. If he’s still upright past the halfway mark Saturday night, Aspinall’s pick starts looking very smart.
