Josh Hokit issued his final warning to Ciryl Gane at the ceremonial weigh-ins on Friday — and promised to put the heavyweight champion in a casket.
“Tomorrow night, the future is born, and the past is put in a f—king casket. Tomorrow, Gotham is saved.”
During the faceoff at the Infosys Theater at Madison Square Garden, with all 13 matchups on the UFC 334 card facing off, Hokit told Gane: "You have a mental coach. Only p—sies have mental coaches. Your career is over when you lose to a guy like me. Look at me."
Then, after the faceoff, Hokit turned to the crowd and emptied the chamber. "Ciryl... I'm gonna beat the sh-t out of you. Tomorrow night, the future is born, and the past is put in a f—king casket. Tomorrow, Gotham is saved," he said, as reported by MMA Mania.
BJPenn, quoting MMA Fighting, reported a fuller version of the post-faceoff warning, delivered on stage to the MC: "Ciryl, the code word is gonna be colon cleanse, because I'm gonna beat the sit out of you. Listen, tomorrow night, the future is born, and the past is put in a fcking casket. Tomorrow, Gotham is saved."
Gane, greeted by a wall of boos from the pro-Hokit crowd while Hokit received cheers, answered calmly: "I got a lot of experience. I'm gonna show you this Saturday, no worries." Dana White stepped between the two men as the faceoff ended.
The casket line was not new. Hokit said a version of it at media day on Wednesday: "It would mean that Gotham is saved, the heavyweight division is saved, the future is born, the past will be put in a casket."
The challenger comes in lighter — and louder. At Friday morning's official weigh-ins, Gane tipped the scales at 242.6 lb to Hokit's 231.4 lb, an 11.2 lb gap, and Hokit pretended to pass out on the scale.
Hokit, 10-0 as a professional with six knockouts, three submissions and one decision, is 4-0 in the UFC, ranked No. 4, and fighting for a title for the first time. The Fresno State Division I All-American wrestler and former San Francisco 49ers practice-squad running back earned his contract by stopping Guilherme Uriel in the second round on Dana White's Contender Series on August 19, 2025. He stopped Max Gimenis in 56 seconds on his UFC debut in November 2025, earning Performance of the Night, then stopped Denzel Freeman with one second left in the first round at UFC 324. In April 2026 at UFC 327 he beat No. 5 Curtis Blaydes by unanimous decision, taking Fight of the Night and Performance of the Night, and on June 14, 2026 at UFC Freedom 250 he stopped Derrick Lewis by knockout in the second round at 4:09. He was announced as Gane's challenger in September 2026.
Gane, 14-2 in MMA and 11-2 in the UFC with one no contest, defends the undisputed heavyweight title for the first time. He won the interim belt by stopping Alex Pereira in the second round at UFC Freedom 250 at the White House in June 2026, and was elevated to undisputed champion after Tom Aspinall vacated the title in September 2026, following setbacks recovering from multiple eye surgeries stemming from Gane's double eye poke in their October 2025 no-contest in Abu Dhabi. Gane is the first French champion in UFC history.
The talking ends tonight. UFC 334 takes place on Saturday, November 14, at Madison Square Garden in New York, headlined by Gane vs Hokit for the heavyweight title. Early prelims begin at 5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT, prelims at 7 p.m. ET, and the main card at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT, with the whole card streaming on Paramount+.
