Ciryl Gane kept the UFC heavyweight title with a unanimous decision win over Josh Hokit at UFC 334, while Kayla Harrison submitted Amanda Nunes to retain her women’s bantamweight title at Madison Square Garden in New York on Saturday night.
Gane beat the previously unbeaten Hokit by unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring the five-round fight 48-47. It was the Frenchman’s first title defence since he was promoted to undisputed champion in September, after Tom Aspinall vacated the belt because of injury.
Hokit, 29, made a fast start and slammed Gane to the canvas late in the first round, but Gane’s experience over five rounds told in the end. The challenger had never been scheduled for five rounds before, and Gane took control in the championship rounds with body kicks and sharp boxing to edge a close fight. Gane, 36, now has a 15-2 record, while Hokit falls to 10-1.
In the co-main event, Harrison submitted Nunes with a rear-naked choke at 1:29 of the fourth round to retain the women’s bantamweight title. Nunes, the former two-division champion widely regarded as the greatest female fighter in UFC history, was fighting for the first time since June 2023, when she announced her retirement after defending her title against Irene Aldana at UFC 289.
Harrison caught a front kick from Nunes early in the fourth round, took her to the canvas, jumped on her back and sank in the choke. Nunes fought for a few seconds before tapping out. Harrison, who was 19-1 before the fight, has now won 20 of her 21 professional fights.
Elsewhere on the main card, Caio Borralho beat Yousri Belgaroui by unanimous decision (30-27 on all three cards), Uros Medic and Kevin Holland fought to a majority draw, and Luis Gurule beat Bilal Hasan by split decision.
