Ciryl Gane's Coach Sees Cain Velasquez in Josh Hokit Ahead of UFC 334 Title Fight

Heavyweight coaches do not hand out the name Cain Velasquez lightly, which is why the comparison landed the way it did. BJPenn.com reported on Monday that Fernand Lopez, the longtime coach of heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane, sees striking similarities between surging challenger Josh Hokit and the Hall of Fame former champion — and that he is treating the undefeated American as a unique puzzle ahead of the UFC 334 main event on November 14 at Madison Square Garden. Lopez, speaking in a recent interview with MMA Junkie, was not building his fighter’s opponent up for the cameras. He was describing, in detail, the problem his team has to solve.

“He’s not just another heavyweight coming forward to punch people; he’s got something,” Lopez said of Hokit, in comments reported by BJPenn.com from the MMA Junkie interview. “I think that besides Cain Velasquez, it’s been a long time since we had this kind of wrestler that can push you, make you guess, go for wrestling, if that’s not working, go back to striking; he’s not just relying on wrestling.” Lopez went further: “He can put you out on the feet or he can put you out by submitting you… It’s well deserved for him, and I think that he is a huge challenge for Ciryl. Of course he’s going to wrestle, but he’s not going to wrestle right away.”

A comparison about pressure, not highlights

What Lopez is describing is a style more than a résumé. MMA Junkie’s account of the interview has Lopez breaking the matchup down to geography: Gane, he said, creates a space between himself and his opponent, and Hokit is the fighter who takes that space away — bringing the fight hard, with pressure, punches and level changes, and able to sustain it for a long time. As evidence, Lopez pointed to Hokit’s fight with Curtis Blaydes, in which, as MMA Junkie reported, Hokit set a heavyweight record with 177 significant strikes. That is the Velasquez signature in a single number. Velasquez built a two-time championship reign on exactly that blend — NCAA-calibre wrestling underneath a striking pace that never let a heavyweight breathe — and Lopez is saying the division has not produced the combination since.

The wrestler who has barely had to wrestle

The strangest part of the scouting report is that Hokit’s deepest skill is the one he has shown the least. BJPenn.com noted that Hokit has not used his NCAA Division I wrestling much during his UFC tenure; the former Fresno State wrestler faced the likes of Bo Nickal and other top names on the college mats before he ever fought in a cage. What the UFC has seen instead is the rest of the package — the striking output, the pressure, the finishing threat everywhere. BJPenn.com assessed the physical terms plainly: Gane will hold a big size advantage, while Hokit will hold an arguably substantial advantage with his grappling. A champion who wins with distance and movement, against a challenger whose wrestling is still mostly a threat opponents must respect rather than a film they can study — that is the puzzle Lopez is talking about.

A remarkable run to a title shot

For Hokit, the title shot caps one of the most remarkable runs in UFC heavyweight history, as BJPenn.com put it. MMA Junkie lists him at 10-0 in professional MMA and 4-0 in the UFC, and MMA Sucka’s account of Lopez’s interview adds the shape of the sprint: Hokit joined the UFC roster by way of Dana White’s Contender Series in August 2025, has won all four of his UFC fights since, and finished three of them inside the distance. The one that went the distance was the Blaydes fight in April, a unanimous decision that now doubles as the centrepiece of Lopez’s own scouting report. Four UFC fights, roughly a year removed from the Contender Series, and a main event at Madison Square Garden against the undisputed champion: heavyweight simply does not usually move this fast.

The champion across from him

Gane’s side of the equation is a reign that starts under unusual circumstances. MMA Junkie lists the French champion at 14-2 in MMA and 11-2 in the UFC, and he defends at UFC 334 as the newly promoted undisputed champion after Tom Aspinall vacated the title earlier this month while recovering from eye injuries. MMA Junkie’s report also noted where Gane’s career losses have come from — on the ground, against opponents who could take his striking away from him — and that Lopez expects Hokit to try to take the fight to the mat while still producing real exchanges on the feet. In other words, the coach’s Velasquez comparison is partly a game plan told out loud: expect the wrestling, respect the striking, and do not mistake one for a bluff about the other.

The noise around Hokit — and the camp ignoring it

Hokit has spent the build-up doing what he does: BJPenn.com and MMA Junkie both tracked a challenger who talks as relentlessly as he presses, including skits aimed at Gane — and Lopez, per MMA Junkie, does not see any of it rattling his champion. Not everyone in the sport is amused. MMA Mania reported that longtime UFC announcer Bruce Buffer would like to see Hokit show more class, describing a fighter Buffer views as talented but too often disrespectful in how he promotes himself. It is the same persona drawing two opposite readings — a throwback heel act to some, a distraction from a serious contender to others — and the one reading that matters most, his opponent’s coach’s, is entirely about the fighting. Whatever else UFC 334 turns out to be at Madison Square Garden on November 14, with Kayla Harrison defending her women’s bantamweight title against returning former champion Amanda Nunes in the co-main event, according to SI, the main event now has its frame: the champion’s own camp has compared the challenger to Cain Velasquez. On November 14, Hokit gets to find out how much of that comparison he can live up to.