Josh Hokit Drawing Cain Velasquez Comparisons Before UFC 334 Title Shot
Multiple analysts are comparing the undefeated heavyweight to Cain Velasquez ahead of his title fight against Ciryl Gane.
Josh Hokit has not fought for a UFC title yet, but the comparisons to one of the greatest heavyweights in history are already flowing. Multiple analysts and former fighters have likened the undefeated 10-0 prospect to former two-time champion Cain Velasquez ahead of his UFC 334 title shot against Ciryl Gane.
Former BMF champion Jorge Masvidal made the comparison on Full Send MMA alongside Henry Cejudo. "We haven't seen somebody wrestle like Hokit since, I think, in the heavyweight division, like Cain," Masvidal said, per MMA Sucka. He praised Hokit's double-leg takedown, his ground-and-pound, and his explosiveness.
UFC Hall of Famer Chris Weidman echoed the sentiment, telling Heavy that Hokit has the potential to "ragdoll" Gane in a Velasquez style. "I've seen him ragdoll people like Cain Velasquez did back in the day," Weidman said. He noted that Gane's style demands cardio and compared it to Stephen Thompson's movement.
Hokit (10-0) is 4-0 on the UFC main roster, with his most recent win a TKO over Derrick Lewis at UFC Freedom 250 in June. He enters as a +245 underdog against the champion.
Gane (14-2, 1 NC) won the heavyweight title with a TKO of Alex Pereira in June and will make his first defense at Madison Square Garden on November 14.
The Cain comparisons are not lazy. Hokit wrestles the same way Velasquez did. Relentless pressure, heavy hands on the ground, the kind of pace that breaks people in the later rounds. If you watched Cain dismantle Brock Lesnar or Junior dos Santos, you see the template.
But Gane is not Lesnar, and he is not JDS. Ciryl is the best defensive heavyweight the sport has seen. He moves like a middleweight, and his takedown defense has been elite against everyone except the very best wrestlers. Hokit at +245 is not disrespectful. It is accurate, for now.
That said, if Hokit can get Gane to the mat early and keep the pace high, we could be looking at a new champion at MSG. Cain was a +500 underdog against Lesnar. Underdogs who wrestle like that have a way of rewriting the odds.
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