UFC commentator Michael Bisping broke down the upcoming UFC heavyweight title fight between champion Ciryl Gane and challenger Josh Hokit.
The UFC officially announced during the UFC 331 broadcast that Gane will be elevated to undisputed champion after Tom Aspinall vacated his title, and he will take on Hokit in his first title defense in the main event of UFC 334.
With the fight now official, Bisping shared his take on how he believes it will go.
Michael Bisping Analyzes Ciryl Gane vs. Josh Hokit
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Bisping broke down Gane vs. Hokit in great detail.
“Josh Hokit is going to wrestle Ciryl Gane – that’s just a fact. He has to wrestle Ciryl Gane. Ciryl Gane moves so well on the feet. That’s how I knew he was going to beat Alex Pereira. He’s very, very light on the feet. He is very athletic, very explosive, and more importantly, really technical. Now, Josh Hokit goes forward, throws kind of recklessly, but because of his takedown threat, because of his speed, because of his output, because of the constant forward momentum, he catches a lot of people, but he does leave a lot of openings. So he’s got to be careful. He’s going to have to clean things up. He’s going to have to have a tighter guard, and he’s going to have to get the takedown. Now, we know the takedown defense of Ciryl Gane has improved dramatically,” Bisping said (via MMAjunkie.com).
“Of course, Jon Jones was able to take him down. And there’s another guy that’s going to be waiting in the wings maybe at Madison Square Garden. He doesn’t want to let Gable Steveson go out like that. He wants to come back, reclaim some kind of honor for his team, for his camp, maybe get the winner of Ciryl Gane and Josh Hokit because he’s already beaten Ciryl Gane. Like I said, he took him down really quick and he choked him out. Since then, he’s been working on his wrestling. He didn’t go to Dagestan for two-three years. No, he just did it with his team, and he has improved. Tom Aspinall’s got a beautiful double-leg takedown, and in the first round, he couldn’t take down Ciryl Gane. Granted, only the first round. There were still four more rounds to play out in that fight. But what we saw against Alex Pereira was a phenomenal performance. I don’t care if you talk about back of the head shots or whatever. There was one or two that got through in the middle of a mad flurry. Other than that, that performance was fantastic.”
Ciryl Gane Heavily Favored Over Ciryl Gane
The betting odds for the UFC 334 headliner have come out, and Gane is a heavy favorite to beat Hokit, as he currently sits at -280 in the betting odds.
Should this fight take place standing, then Gane is going to be at a huge advantage, just like Bisping said. Hokit’s best chance, then, is to wrestle him.
Michael Bisping Breaks Down Ciryl Gane vs. Josh Hokit