What to take away from UFC 334: Ciryl Gane is doing it again, one way or another, on his own terms

UFC 334 delivered two very different types of “and always” performances in a pair of title fights. Here are the five main takeaways from Saturday’s event at Madison Square Garden.

1. Ciryl Gane continues to make the UFC’s “undisputed” champion a contested champion – but in a very interesting way.

First, he finds a way to benefit from a blatant and earth-shattering glance against Tom Aspinall. Then he knocks out Alex Pereira at the White House amid complaints of illegal strikes. Now he wins a close decision over Josh Hokit with seemingly all of Madison Square Garden united against him. And, oh yeah, he took a look there too, because why not dance with whoever brought you?

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But can we admit that, overall, Gane was simply the better fighter? Josh Hokit might have been more aggressive, but what’s that worth when it means walking face first into punches for the better part of five rounds? Gane’s defensive wrestling has clearly improved, and he showed here that he can fight back and maintain a high pace throughout the championship rounds. Fans don’t have to like him, but at this point maybe they should respect him.

2. Something tells me this isn’t the last time Hokit fights for a UFC title.

It is worth remembering that he only has 11 professional MMA fights to his name. He also didn’t fight anyone that really mattered until about six months ago. That amounts to a man who’s still a work in progress at just under 30, so maybe we shouldn’t be so shocked if he fought like someone with more enthusiasm than sense at times here.

Sometimes it’s hard to see through the athlete’s personality underneath. Hokit tries so hard to present himself as a heavyweight jester that it can be difficult to imagine him as a potential king. But there’s still a certain diamond-in-the-rough quality here. We look at him and see what he could become if he put all this together. It’s just that we don’t know when it might happen. Even though we know it wasn’t Saturday.

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3. Did Kayla Harrison win this fight or did Amanda Nunes lose it?

I’m still not sure. At first, Nunes seemed to have what she wanted. But she couldn’t help but play with the clinch game, which gave Harrison all the opening she needed to force her way through again at some key moments.

This is tricky, because you don’t want to deny Harrison credit for beating the GOAT of women’s MMA. But watching the fight, it felt like Nunes was about to win it — if only she could stay out of her own way.