The talking is done at UFC 334. Heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane and unbeaten challenger Josh Hokit went nose to nose one final time at Friday night's ceremonial weigh-ins at the Infosys Theater inside Madison Square Garden, and the last staredown of fight week ran hot enough that UFC CEO Dana White stepped between the two heavyweights and separated them.
“It's my last one, brother. And what better place to have it than Madison Square Garden, New York City?”
The Garden crowd had picked its side long before the headliners arrived. Hokit, 10-0 and challenging for gold for the first time, was met with a chorus of cheers when he took the stage; Gane, making the first defense of the undisputed title, walked into a wall of boos from the pro-Hokit crowd and brushed the jeers off. After a week spent needling the champion — Thursday's press conference brought an eye patch, protective goggles and a shouting match across the stage — Hokit kept the ceremony itself comparatively quiet, dancing his way onto the stage and saving the menace for the staredown. He had one last line for the champion: "Ciryl, the code word's going to be colon cleanse, because I'm going to beat the s*** out of you."
Friday night's restraint was also the sequel to Friday morning's circus: at the official weigh-ins, Hokit repeated the "drunk" gimmick from his White House weigh-in appearance, pretending to pass out on the scale for several minutes after making the title fight official at 231.4 pounds to Gane's 242.6.
The co-main event needed no theatrics. Kayla Harrison and Amanda Nunes crossed paths for the final time before Saturday, and the last staredown between the former American Top Team teammates was intense. Years in the making — the fight was first set for January, before Harrison's neck surgery — it now stands one sleep away: Harrison defends the women's bantamweight title for the first time after a 17-month layoff, and Nunes, the former two-division champion, fights for the first time since June 2023.
The night's strangest moment belonged to a flyweight. Bilal Hasan, 10-0 and in just his second UFC bout, pulled down his trousers in the middle of his faceoff with Luis Gurule — a stunt that left White visibly unimpressed and turned fans online against him on the spot. The UFC's own social post for the faceoff had billed it "SPOTLIGHT IS ON"; Hasan made sure of the spotlight, one way or another.
Stephen Thompson faced off for the last time in his career. The 43-year-old "Wonderboy" — a two-time welterweight title challenger who has been in the UFC since 2012, and whose first title challenge, against Tyron Woodley at UFC 205, took place in this same building — confirmed this week that Saturday's featured prelim against Charles Radtke is his final fight. "It's my last one, brother," he told James Lynch. "And what better place to have it than Madison Square Garden, New York City?" Thompson weighed 170.6 on Friday morning to Radtke's 170.8, then stood across from the last opponent he will ever face.
Terrance McKinney and Jim Miller also squared off, hours after McKinney's morning on the scale became the day's biggest story: 160.2 pounds, 4.2 over the lightweight limit, 30 percent of his purse gone, an apology posted and a move to welterweight announced. Miller accepted the catchweight, and on Saturday he makes his 48th UFC appearance, extending his own promotion record. All 13 matchups faced off on the night, with Joe Rogan hosting — nothing is left now but the fights.
UFC 334 takes place Saturday, Nov. 14, at Madison Square Garden. The early prelims begin at 5 p.m. ET, the prelims at 7 p.m. ET and the main card at 9 p.m. ET, all on Paramount+.
