UFC 334: Gane vs Hokit - Nov 14 🇺🇸🗽

[wandshogun09]

Back to Madision Square Garden we go…

PARAMOUNT+ MAIN CARD
Ciryl Gane©️vs Josh Hokit - Heavyweight Title 

Kayla Harrison©️vs Amanda Nunes - Bantamweight Title 

Caio Borralho vs Yousri Belgaroui 

Uros Medic vs Kevin Holland 

Bilal Hasan vs Luis Gurule 

PARAMOUNT+ PRELIMS 
Wonderboy Thompson vs Charles Radtke 

Drew Dober vs Chris Duncan

Jim Miller vs Terrance McKinney 

Donte Johnson vs Cesar Almeida 

FIGHT PASS PRELIMS 
Macy Chiasson vs Bia Mesquita 

Nazim Sadykhov vs TBA

Juan Diaz vs TBA

Jared Gordon vs Melquizael Costa 

Evan Elder vs Samuel Sanches

 

 

I was a bit negative on this card when it was first announced and I do stand by my opinion that it’s a pretty sharp comedown from most, if not all, of the previous MSG cards since the UFC started going there. But it’s definitely not a bad card. There’s plenty to talk about and there’s some good and interesting fights on there. I don’t hate it. I think it’s just the idea of a Gane vs Hokit title fight headlining that sours me. It just doesn’t feel right to me. But whatever.

 

 

Ciryl Gane vs Josh Hokit then. This is what passes for a MSG headliner these days. For the ‘undisputed’ Heavyweight title. Even though it must be one of the most disputable undisputed title fights in UFC history. They’re both in this position through fucked up circumstances. Gane’s fouled his way to the gold and Hokit’s been rushed into this spot simply because the division is so thin on contenders at this point that there wasn’t really anyone else to slot in there. On top of that, who do you even root for in a fight like this? The cheater or the ‘edgy’ gobshite? It’s heel vs heel. In this case, as much as I don’t want to, I’ve gotta side with Gane. He’s out there gouging eyes out of the sockets, twatting people in the back of the head and kicking bollocks all over the place and he’s still the lesser of two evils here. That’s how insufferable Hokit is.

This is how we got here. October 2025 in Abu Dhabi. Champ Tom Aspinall defending against Gane. Going in I think most felt like Aspinall would win but that Gane could be tricky and ask some questions of him. The fight only lasted about four minutes and it was shaping up to be the most interesting of Aspinall’s career to date. Gane was doing well in the short time the fight lasted, popped Aspinall’s nose and seemed to be on his way to winning the first round. Finally we were seeing Aspinall tested a bit. Then Gane went and fingerfucked Aspinall in both eyes, knuckle deep, digging right in like he was picking up a sodding bowling ball. Aspinall couldn’t continue, the fight was ruled a No Contest. Cue the brain dead fans giving Aspinall shit and calling him a ‘quitter’ for the next year plus as he went to multiple doctors, had multiple surgeries on both eyes and his career was put on hold. Yeah, I’m sure a professional fighter is gonna go under the knife, on his fucking eyeballs, three or four times just because the first four minutes of a 25 minute fight didn’t go amazingly for him and his nose got a bit bloody. I’ve said it a bunch of times but it was clear as day the people giving him grief were/are Jon Jones fans who were just waiting for their chance to put the boot in because their hero ran away and left $30 million on the table rather than fight Aspinall. It’s been a year long victory lap for the sad cunts and it’s all a coping mechanism because their man pulled the biggest and worst duck job in MMA history.

Anyway, fast forward to September this year. After almost a whole year of inactivity due to his recovery from the eye surgery being slower than expected, Tom Aspinall vacated the Heavyweight belt.

“Ongoing complications with my eyes mean I cannot get medically cleared to fight right now. I’ve had multiple surgeries, accidents and infections, and done everything possible to get back to competing. I had previously agreed to a fight date and was back sparring, feeling great and ready to compete when an accident caused further damage to my right eye. This means more time away from the sport, and right now, the timing of my return is unclear. I know there have been questions about why I’ve been quiet. I’ve always followed the advice of the UFC and focused on my recovery while we’ve tried to make this happen.”

“I’ve now made the decision to vacate the heavyweight title. I’ve asked the UFC to allow me to make this statement because I don’t want to hold the heavyweight division up. I know what it’s like to have your career put on hold and I want the other fighters to have the opportunity to compete for the title. The UFC and Hunter Campbell have been informed every step of the way and have seen the tests, procedures and medical information relating to my eyes. We have worked closely with different doctors and specialists to try and make return happen, but unfortunately, it’s simply not possible right now.”

“I’m absolutely gutted. I’ve chased this dream since I was 10 years old. I’m not done. Stepping away from the title is not stepping away from the sport or the dream. I’ll continue doing everything I can to get healthy, get cleared and get back to competing as soon as possible.”

“What makes this particularly difficult is that many of the complications I’m dealing with are a result of fouls that changed the course of my career. Fighters rely on officials to enforce the rules and protect us in those moments, and it’s hard to still be dealing with the consequences today.”

“Thank you to everyone who has supported me throughout this absolute nightmare. I’ll be back as soon as I’m medically able to be.” - Tom Aspinall

Can’t help but feel gutted for him. If you’re a normal person that is. He still got a load of shit for this. Can’t win. When he wasn’t speaking on it he got both barrels for ‘going into hiding’ and people calling for him to relinquish the belt or be stripped. He vacates the belt and they still chat shite.

Gane won the interim title back in June, stopping Alex Pereira on the White House card. Obviously that was before Aspinall gave the belt up. In the aftermath of Aspinall’s statement above, there was some confusion about what was happening with the belt. And it was all caused by Dana being mentally checked out and not having his finger on the pulse of his own company. With Gane being interim champ, everyone just assumed he’d just be promoted to full champ status now Aspinall had vacated. Dana made a right arse of his comments when asked about it and made it sound like Gane wasn’t champ. He later had to admit he “fucked up” and that Gane was now the undisputed champion after all. Just another in a long line of examples of Dana being clueless about the UFC in 2026. Too busy pissing about with that Nina div, pretending he’s promoting AJ vs Fury and raging at Eddie Hearn, I guess.

Gane has came off terribly in this whole Aspinall situation. No accountability. Zero remorse. No apologies. His attitude has basically been, ‘Yeah I nearly blinded you and might’ve ended your career, stop crying about it will you?’ Proper prick. And I used to defend Gane early in his career when he was green and people were calling him boring. He’s shown his true colours in this whole saga though. Absolute dickhead. And what I find most odd is there’s a bunch of people excusing him and acting like he’s not a dirty fighter, despite all the video evidence throughout multiple fights in his career to the contrary. And I’m not even just talking fans now, MMA media and other fighters have piped up acting like the criticism Gane’s received is out of order. I don’t get it. I recently saw Dominick Cruz waffling a load of cobblers saying if you get poked in the eye, it’s your fault. What? Saw TJ Dillashaw trying to babyface Gane as well and saying he’s not a cheater. Of course Mr EPO is gonna defend a fellow dirty fighter. Even in Gane’s last win over Pereira, he landed a bunch of punches to the back of the head before finishing Pereira on the feet. Yet the whole thing around that now is being framed as if the back of the head shots didn’t matter and Pereira should shut up about it. At this point, if you’re a UFC fighter and you’re not cheating and fouling like fuck, you’re an idiot. If cheating is not only not gonna be punished but it’s actively being cheered on, sod it, crack on. Genuinely hope Aspinall comes back, gets a rematch with Gane and immediately walks across the Octagon and penalty kicks Gane straight in the balls. Why not right? Stop crying about it, Ciryl.

And that’s the guy I’ve gotta root for!

Ugh. Don’t even know where to start with this twat. Hokit’s the younger man here. A 28 year old Heavyweight, with a solid college wrestling background, who’s game to bang it out in the striking. On the surface he should be someone we’re all getting behind. But he’s such an annoying, overbearing, cringe ball, desperate edgelord of a gimmick ‘character’ that I just want him to fail. He’s undefeated at 10-0, with all but one of them ending inside the distance. But his first eight fights were against ham and eggers. He got his first real step up back in April when he was thrown in against Curtis Blaydes in Miami.

Turned out to be an absolute slobberknocker. Hokit won on points and put a bit of a beating on Blaydes but he couldn’t close the show and he took some digs himself. I’m not on board with it being the ‘BESTEST HEAVYWEIGHT FIGHT EVER’ like many were calling it at the time but it was certainly the best Heavyweight fight we’ve seen in a while. Although that bar has been low for years now. Definitely one of the best fights of the year anyway. From there, Hokit stopped a washed up and disinterested looking Derrick Lewis on the White House card in June and proceeded to get on the mic and call Michelle Obama a man. Yep. On the White House lawn of all places. People can call it a gimmick but there comes a point when you can’t hide behind that anymore. Just a sack of shit. Dana seemed pissed off with the comments after the show but he obviously wasn’t that bothered because here we are. It’s actually mad when you think about it. Years ago Miguel Torres got briefly fired from the UFC for making a rape joke on Twitter. In 2026, Hokit stands outside the White House and calls the wife of the former US President “a man” and he’s rewarded with a title shot in his very next fight.

All the stupid shite aside though, I’m not even sure what to make of Hokit as a fighter. With his dogshit personality, he was always gonna gain a fanbase of the most annoying, immature, meathead shitbags that currently seem to populate most of the MMA space. The type of people who would rip the piss out of pro wrestling for being “fake” but are too thick to see the irony in them lapping up Hokit’s gimmick. But yeah, add to that Hokit being young for the division, plus this wrestling base we haven’t seen yet from him, plus the shiny unbeaten record. He’s kind of the flavour of the month at the moment. But I’m not sure. If he didn’t shoot his mouth off the way he does, if he wasn’t so ‘hilarious’ to his new bandwagon of arse kissers, would anyone really be acting like he’s some killer based off wins over a faded Blaydes and a shot Lewis? Again, going back to Aspinall, the fans who played down Aspinall’s win over Blaydes are probably the same ones jizzing themselves dry over Hokit’s win over Blaydes. And Aspinall flattened Blaydes in one minute, Hokit went life and death with him in a war and couldn’t put him away in 15 minutes.

Honestly hope Gane kicks his willy off. Just fouls him into oblivion. Against pretty much anyone else in the division, I’d probably root against Gane at this point. But there’s no way I can bring myself to cheer a bellend like Hokit on. I’m 41 years old. How anyone over the age of 9 finds his schtick entertaining, I don’t know. And no amount of Rogan and Cormier giggling on commentary and repeatedly telling me how funny Hokit is will change my mind. Grow up fellas, for fuck’s sake. The fight itself is kind of intriguing if you strip all the bullshit away. I just feel a bit underwhelmed by it as a title fight and a MSG main event. If this stays on the feet I just can’t see anything but Gane schooling him. Either with strikes or eye pokes and dick kicks. But I think this’ll be the fight where Hokit dusts off his wrestling. And that’s where it gets interesting because Gane’s grappling is arse. It was his downfall against Ngannou, it was his downfall against Jones, he makes weird decisions from top and bottom positions. It’s just not good. Hokit would be a fool to just stand and strike here when Gane’s dodgy grappling is a weakness with a great big flashing neon sign to exploit. But then, Hokit is also undersized for Heavyweight. Being real, he’s a chubby 205er who’s too lazy to cut weight. I think him being unable to finish Blaydes was partly due to him not being a true, legit HW as well. We’ll see. I saw pics recently of Aspinall finally back in training so hopefully that means his return isn’t too far off now and he can fight the winner of this in the first half of next year.

 

Kayla Harrison vs Amanda Nunes is our co-main event. Let’s try this again. This was supposed to go down at UFC 324 back in January but Harrison had to pull out with a neck injury. It’s a funny one this. I am looking forward to it and, names-wise, it’s one of the biggest fights in the history of women’s MMA. Definitely the biggest women’s fight we’ve had in a long time. But the timing of it, both getting up in age, Harrison coming off a serious injury, Nunes coming off a huge layoff and the very high possibility that both just retire after this fight, I don’t know. This really feels almost like the last desperate gasp of life out of the women’s game. Oh well. I’m just gonna enjoy this for what it is and try not to think about the wasteland we’re gonna be left with if these two do walk away after this. If you want an idea what I’m talking about, Joselyne Edwards has been named as the official backup for this one. Yeah. Hopefully she’s not needed but yeah. Make the most of these two.

Kayla Harrison won the Bantamweight title at UFC 316 back in June 2025, ripping the gold off Julianna Pena with a sweet second round Kimura submission. Of course this made me very happy. Finally, someone came along and saved us from the horror of Pena as champion. Harrison is pretty much exactly what you want as champ. She came into MMA with the ready made credibility of being a two time Olympic gold medalist, for fuck’s sake. She’s gone an impressive 19-1 in MMA since. The problem is, she’s already 36 and by the time she got to the UFC they were phasing out the Featherweight division. So Harrison’s only option was Bantamweight. And I’m not exaggerating when I say she’s literally killing herself to make 135. It’s the big talking point every time she fights. In her three UFC fights so far, she has made the weight because she’s a pro. But who knows at what cost to her long term health? She won Olympic gold at 172lbs, obviously as a much younger woman, and most of her pre-UFC fights were at 155lbs. How she’s making 135 in her mid thirties, I don’t know, but it’s not sustainable long term and she knows it. This is a recent quote from her on this Nunes fight…

“They don’t know it, but once I fuck up Amanda, I’m gonna ask them to make a 145 so I can be more active. If they don’t want to make 145, then I’m just gonna say like, ‘Thank you, it’s been great.’ You know? I’m satisfied. It’s just taking years off my life.” - Kayla Harrison

So that’s that then. I also saw another quote with her saying she most likely would’ve just retired if this Nunes fight didn’t end up happening because the other names in the division don’t really interest her. So yeah. This is probably gonna be her last time cutting to 135, win or lose. And this could well be her last fight full-stop. Honestly wish they just made this fight at 145. With or without a title, Harrison vs Nunes is a bigger fight than any women’s title fight they can make right now anyway. But if they were insisting on it being a title fight, I’d rather Harrison vacated the 135 belt, let the bums left at 135 squabble over it, and just make this fight for a 145 belt. Even if they’re not gonna keep the division going long term, at this point fuck it. Just keep a Featherweight belt around for however long these two are sticking around then, I don’t know, bin it again when they retire for all I care. UFC belts are almost meaningless anyway in 2026, there’s so many vacants and interims and champs on the sidelines. And at 145, we’d almost certainly get a better actual fight out of these two as well. Who wants to see two women in their mid to late 30s go in there weight drained for no real reason? But no, we’re stuck with it at 135.

Nunes was in attendance when Harrison beat Pena last year, which led to their first face-off in the cage after the fight.

Nunes had already said during that fight week that she was gonna come out of retirement to fight the winner, so it wasn’t like it was a huge shock or anything. But still, seeing these two go face-to-face was a pretty cool moment. An interesting little twist to this as well is there’s some history between them. They were both at American Top Team for a while, and they sparred a bit. And Nunes says that Harrison “still does the same mistakes since we sparred”. She also made some comments about how she felt like Harrison wasn’t really a full on teammate of hers and she was kind of distant. Then she didn’t like it when Harrison mentioned wanting to fight her later on. All bollocks though really. There’s gonna be a bit of awkwardness when you’ve got two of the top fighters in the same weight range in the same gym, going for the same goals. Harrison probably expected they’d have to fight somewhere down the road so didn’t wanna get too close in the gym. Standard stuff but it adds an extra little layer of interest to this one for me.

What a picture!

Amanda Nunes might just be the GOAT when it comes to women’s MMA. The phrase ‘GOAT’ gets thrown around too easily these days and I’m convinced a lot of people don’t even know what it actually means but you look back at Nunes career and it’s hard to deny. She destroyed Miesha Tate at UFC 200 to win the title, blitzed Ronda Rousey in under a minute and ran her out of the sport, stood toe-to-toe with fucking Cyborg and bombed her out in less than a minute, was the first to knock out Holly Holm in MMA and she beat Valentina Shevchenko twice. She was an absolute beast in her prime.

She retired in June 2023 after a lopsided decision win over Irene Aldana. And I’ll be honest, I clearly remember thinking that she was probably walking away at the right time. She had all those big moments I mentioned above but, by mid 2023, there was a sense that she’d been on the decline for a while. From late 2019 on, she won lacklustre decisions over Germaine De Randamie and Felicia Spencer, submitted a Megan Anderson who looked like she really didn’t wanna be there, had that embarrassing loss to Pena, avenged the Pena loss by decision, then beat Aldana by decision. The fact that the woman who bulldozed Rousey, Cyborg, Holm and Tate was at the point where she couldn’t finish the likes of De Randamie, Spencer, Pena and Aldana spoke volumes. And her losing to Pena at all was a massive red flag that it was probably time to call it a day. I’m glad she at least stuck around to right the wrong of the Pena fight but it was clear as day she’d lost a step. She seemed more focused on becoming a mum at that time. I think she probably would’ve retired sooner if it wasn’t for that Pena loss. I think that prolonged things because, understandably, she didn’t wanna go out on a loss to that gobshite.

So yeah, this is all a long winded way of saying I’ve got mixed feelings about this Nunes comeback. She’s 38 years old now and has been out of action for almost three and a half years. Her best days already seemed to be behind her back in 2023 and now this layoff, three and a half years is a lifetime in combat sports. But this is still better than anything else going on in the division isn’t it? Which is a damning indictment on the state of the women’s Bantamweight division. It’s probably a big part of the reason Nunes is even coming back. The division hasn’t got better at all since she left, if anything it’s regressed. She probably sees the current crop beyond Harrison as easy pickings. Unlike Harrison, Nunes seems to want to fight a few more times after this. But we’ll see if it actually plays out like that.

How does this go then? How do you call it? You can’t expect prime Nunes here, I’m not sure what we’re getting from her. And that’s kind of the problem. I think it would take a prime Nunes to beat Harrison, so my gut feeling is that this comeback might be a bad move for her. But now we’ve also got the x-factor of Harrison coming back from neck surgery. It sounds like she went through hell as well…

“It was such a big surgery. I went 10 years without surgery. I had reconstructive knee surgery between my two Olympics and then I went 10 years with no surgery. But in the last four years, I’ve had four surgeries back-to-back-to-back-to-back and this one was the most serious.”

“I was devastated. It was a hard pill to swallow but also I’m grateful for the team around me. I’m very blessed to have the people around me that I have. I was in a neck brace for 8 weeks. I wasn’t allowed to lift more than 20 pounds. To go from training for the biggest fight of my life at 100 miles per hour to that was a big drop, and then the mental side that comes with that. It was a very long process that I kind of had to trust God with. You go from sparring five rounds and you’re the baddest woman on the planet, to in a straight neck brace.” - Kayla Harrison

Not good. You read that and then factor in that she’s also understandably had enough of the ridiculous weight cut to make 135, and the fact she’s already 36 years old. Yeah. This might be it. And seriously, what is there to even stick around for after this? Joselyne Edwards? Ailin Perez? Fuck that. I think it would take something huge like a Ronda Rousey return or a Cyborg fight for her to want to keep doing this. And neither of them are happening. Even if they do revive the 145 division to keep Harrison around a bit longer, who would she be staying around to fight? Outside of a possible Nunes rematch, there’s just nothing there. Looking at the landscape of the women’s divisions, this might well be the last big women’s fight we see for years. Enjoy it.

 

Caio Borralho vs Yousri Belgaroui is gonna be ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** this time. Not that I’m necessarily expecting a barnburner out of it, I’m just really interested to see how Belgaroui does here because I’ve liked him so far but this is a significant step up in levels. Borralho currently sits at #5 or #6 depending on which set of rankings you’re looking at. Belgaroui isn’t even ranked yet. So obviously, a huge opportunity for him. I’m not sure he’s ready yet but we’re gonna find out soon enough.

To be fair, he’s already 34. It’s not like he’s got bags of time. So I get why they’re moving with some urgency here. He’s looked good in the UFC so far. Former Kickboxer, fought both Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira. Made the switch to MMA and now trains with Pereira and Glover Teixeira. He’s 11-3 so far with 9 knockouts and he’s on a six fight win streak. Made his UFC debut last October and stopped Azamat Bekoev, who was on a winning streak himself at the time and was starting to get a little bit of buzz. Then in March, Belgaroui beat down Mansur Abdul-Malik, who was undefeated and being hyped up by the commentators. Then last time out on the Noche card in September, he was supposed to fight Kelvin Gastelum but had to make do with bashing up replacement Djorden Santos in a round. On paper Borralho is a level above all those guys though. He’s 18-2-0-1 and coming off a win over Reinier De Ridder at UFC 326 in March. He also has a win over Jared Cannonier and went five rounds with current top contender Nassourdine Imavov. Not always the best to watch. That De Ridder fight last time was very lacklustre as I recall. But he’s a legit Top 5-10 guy at Middleweight. If Belgaroui can pass this test, we’ve got a new contender in the mix.

 

Uros Medic vs Kevin Holland should be an entertaining fight. Medic’s been on the roster since 2021 and it was a bit of a slow burn with him but he’s been on a roll lately and gathering momentum. He’s 14-3 now and on a four fight winning streak, all first round by KO/TKO, none lasting longer than 1:19. The last three were over decent opposition as well. He stopped Muslim Salikhov, who’s no world beater but a tough and very experienced striker. Chinned Geoff Neal, who was considered a potential contender a few years ago, gave Shavkat a good scrap and went the distance with Ian Garry. And then in his last fight, he headlined at home in Serbia and walloped Daniel Rodriguez in 30 seconds. Not sure how long he can keep this going but, at 33, he’s in the best stretch of his career at the moment. I can’t see him ending this one so easy but we’ll see. Holland’s 29-15-0-1, which is obviously not a great win/loss ratio but he’s mixed with a lot of top fighters and he’s had his moments. Decent right hand on him and some slick chokes. I’ve mentioned finding him frustrating to watch at times in the past and I do think he sometimes veers too much into the shit taking and showboating in there but it’s nothing like MVP and when he’s on he’s good to watch. He’s coming off a solid win over Randy Brown here. Should be a good one this. Medic’s gonna be coming in confident and looking to continue his early finish streak so Holland’s probably not gonna have time to piss about here.

 

Bilal Hasan vs Luis Gurule kicks off the main card. Might seem like a strange choice unless you remember Hasan. He was on DWCS in August and scored a 45 second knockout then did his best moonwalk in the post-fight celebration. He took a mega quick turnaround and made his UFC debut on the Shanghai card at the end of August, stopping Nilson Rojas in the second round.

So far, so good. Not sure how much of a shelf life the Michael Jackson tribute act thing is gonna have if he keeps doing it but he’s been fun to watch so far. He’s only 25 years old, undefeated at 10-0. I remember reading that the guy he beat on DWCS was badly outmatched but, to be fair, his UFC debut opponent Rojas was also unbeaten at 9-0. Time will tell on Hasan but he’s stood out so far in the limited amount of Octagon time he’s had. Gurule is 32 years old and 11-4 with 6 finishes. He went 9-0 at the start of his career, won on DWCS and it’s been a rough UFC run since. He’s gone 1-4 in the UFC and was last seen getting subbed by Rei Tsuruya on the Macau card in May. This is obviously the matchmakers trying to set up another Hasan showcase and I’d imagine that’s what it’ll be.

 

Wonderboy Thompson vs Charles Radtke is notable for one reason. This is Wonderboy’s retirement fight. Obligatory caveat to take it with a few pinches of salt. You know the score by now with MMA retirements. But I’m hoping Wonderboy is one of the smart ones who isn’t gonna end up doing fucking Power Slap a year from now. Bit underwhelmed by Radtke as his final opponent but whatever. I guess if it’s got a plus point, this is a babyface vs heel thing. Because Radtke’s a dick.

This is about Wonderboy though. Not gonna pretend he was my favourite fighter, I wasn’t ever a massive fan. But I do like him. He’s always seemed like one of the good guys. And he has had his moments in the cage. Wins over the likes of Robert Whittaker, Johny Hendricks, Rory MacDonald, Jorge Masvidal etc. Kind of makes sense him having his last fight at MSG as well. He’s not from New York but he has ties to the Big Apple. He has trained at Longo’s gym quite a bit, might even still be there. And Chris Weidman is actually his brother in law. He’s said himself it’s basically his second home. As far as his career goes, yeah, it’s probably a good time to step away. He’s gonna be 44 in February, he’s been training since he was 3 years old and has done some form of combat ever since. In MMA he’s 17-9-1, has gone 1-5 in his last six, 0-3 in his last three and he’s coming off a 16 month layoff. Radtke’s 36 years old and 12-5 with 8 finishes. He’s won his last couple but my only real in cage memories of him are when Carlos Prates and Mike Malott battered him. Proper twat though. My expectations for 43 year old Wonderchap aren’t great but I’m really hoping he can find one last highlight reel KO to end his career on.

 

Drew Dober vs Chris Duncan is surely one of the front runners for FOTN on this card. Can’t see any way this isn’t an action packed, bloody, scrappy banger. Dober loves that kind of fight. One of those guys who seems to lose as many as he wins but he just continues to go out there and throw down. He’s 29-15-0-1 now and, at 38, I don’t think he’s gonna change his style at this point. He’s coming into this fight off a couple of stoppage wins and he viciously knocked out Michael Johnson in his last fight in March. Scotland’s Duncan is 33 with a 15-3 record. He got subbed by Renato Moicano in their Apex headliner back in April but before that he was on a nice four fight win streak which included a forgotten FOTY contender bloodbath against Mateusz Rebecki and a first round submission over Terrance McKinney. Should be a belter for however long it lasts.

 

Jim Miller vs Terrance McKinney. Well this isn’t gonna be boring, is it? Miller’s never in dull fights and McKinney must be allergic to judges scorecards because he’s yet to see them in 27 pro fights. Seriously. He’s 18-9. 27 total fights, never gone the distance and 23 of those fights never even got out of the first round. 12 of them ended in under a minute! His last eight in a row haven’t gone past the first round. You get the picture. He’s not great, never gonna make a splash in the title picture etc. But he’s as pure a finisher as there is on the roster. The definition of the phrase ‘kill or be killed’. His results so far this year kind of sum him up though. He’s 1-1 so far in 2026. Blitzed Kyle Nelson in just 24 seconds in March, then almost did the same to King Green in July but Green ended up weathering the storm and getting the comeback submission. I kind of feel like Miller might do the same here. He’s from that same mould as Green. The crafty veteran. Miller’s tough as shit as well so he might be able to get through that initial onslaught. Might. We’ll see. This’ll be fight 60 for Miller overall. It’s his 48th fight in the UFC and he’s 43 years old. At one point his plan was to make it to UFC 300 and then retire. Well, that obviously came and went two years ago. He’s said his latest goal is to reach 50 fights in the UFC. So he’s two away after this one. No doubt there’ll be a new finish line created by then though. He’s gonna try and hang on for UFC 400 isn’t he? Mad little bastard.

 

Donte Johnson vs Cesar Almeida could be decent. Haven’t seen a ton of either but both seem to pack a punch. Johnson’s 27 years old, 9-0 with 8 not making it to the scorecards. Mostly knockouts. He got a first round TKO on DWCS last summer and has gone 3-0 in the UFC since. It’s been jobber city though. A submission over Sedriques Dumas in his UFC debut, then he only managed a split decision over Cody Brundage which is obviously not great, then last time out he clobbered Eric McConico in about 90 seconds. Wins are wins but this should be a bit of a stiffer test. Almeida’s no spring chicken at 38 but he’s got experience against an overall higher level of opposition than Johnson has. He went 47-8-1-1 with 27 knockouts in Kickboxing if his Wikipedia page is to be believed. He did have a trilogy with Alex Pereira in that time, ultimately losing the series 1-2. In MMA he’s gone 7-3 but he’s coming off back-to-back losses and was stopped for the first time in his combat sports career last time out by Damian Pinas. It’s probably a good time for Johnson to catch Almeida but we’ll see. Even Almeida in a slump is slightly better than the ham and eggers Johnson’s been beating so far. A gradual step up. Feels like fate though that Almeida’s destined to get hammered by a Pinas and a Johnson back-to-back. Poor get.

 

Macy Chiasson vs Bia Mesquita isn’t must see or anything but might be worth a look. I like what I’ve seen of Mesquita so far. She’s pretty much a pure grappler but it’s working for her so far and, let’s be honest, if there’s a weight class weak enough and shallow enough to get away with being a one trick pony, women’s Bantamweight is the one. She’s already 35 but, again, 135 isn’t exactly full of good fighters. I honestly could see her going quite far just on the strength of her BJJ alone. She’s 8-0 with 7 finishes so far. 3-0 in the UFC, all submissions. She’s only beat bottom level opponents so far - Irina Alekseeva, Montserrat Rendon and Melissa Mullins - but she’s squashed them the way a fighter of any real substance would. We’ll see how she looks here. Chiasson isn’t great herself but I’d say she’s a step up from that lot. She’s also 35, won TUF years ago and has a couple of alright wins over Norma Dumont and Mayra Bueno Silva. She’s struggling lately though. She’s 0-3 in her last few and I think it’s obvious what the matchmakers are trying to do here. She’s going nowhere and they could have something at least with Mesquita. She’s a fresh face in the division at the very least, even at 35 years old.

 

Jared Gordon vs Melquizael Costa is a decent fight for the prelims. Gordon’s the home fighter, from Queens NY. He’s getting on a bit now, 38 years old, so there’s probably not gonna be many more opportunities for him to fight at MSG. And he’s coming off back-to-back losses against Rafa Garcia and Jim Miller now, and he was finished in both fights. He’s clearly slowing down. Still feel bad that they robbed him against Pimblett. I was indifferent to him for ages before that but I always kind of root for him now. Costa’s not gonna be an easy night’s work though. He’s the younger man at 30, he’s 26-8 with 17 finishes and he was on a nice win streak before his points loss to Arnold Allen in May. He beat some decent guys as well like Andre Fili, Julian Erosa, Morgan Charriere and Dan Ige. He’s fun to watch and he’s gonna be fired up to get back on track here. Gordon’s shown he can have a good old scrap himself with the right opponent but I feel like he might be a bit too long in the tooth for Costa at this point.

 

Evan Elder vs Samuel Sanches. Neither here nor there on this, just not familiar enough with either of them. Elder’s 29 years old with a record of 10-2 and 6 finishes. Believe it or not, he’s been on the UFC roster since 2022. I know I must’ve seen a few of his fights but can’t say any of it sticks in the memory. And that’s probably partly because he hasn’t been very active. He’s had a lot of gaps and layoffs. He last fought in April 2025, beating Gauge Young by decision, before that was July 2024, before that was July 2023 etc. Sanches is the newcomer here. He’s Brazilian, just 23 years old and 11-1 with 9 inside the distance. He’s been out a while himself. He scored a first round knockout on DWCS back in September 2025, was supposed to make his UFC debut on the Seattle card in March but pulled out, now here we are.

 

Me whenever Hokit grabs a mic…

Edited 13 hours ago by wandshogun09