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Last night (Sat., Nov. 14, 2026), Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) ventured forth to Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York for UFC 334. Twin title fights topped the promotion\u2019s return to MSG, making for an exciting and high-profile night of action. In the main event, Ciryl Gane<\/strong> aimed for the first defense of his newly-minted Heavyweight crown opposite divisional upstart Josh Hokit<\/strong>. In addition, Amanda Nunes<\/strong> returned after nearly three years on the sidelines in an attempt to recapture her Bantamweight crown from Judo Olympian Kayla Harrison<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The rest of the card was stacked with fun matchups and interesting talent, so let\u2019s get right to the best performances and highlight finishes of the evening:<\/p>\n NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 14: Ciryl Gane of France (R) throws a right punch against Josh Hokit of the United States in their heavyweight title bout during UFC 334 at Madison Square Garden on November 14, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier\/Getty Images) Getty Images<\/p>\n Ciryl Gane vs. Josh Hokit was an outstanding scrap, the best Heavyweight fight in quite some time.<\/p>\n Gane started strong. Hokit wrestled right away and surged forward relentlessly, forcing Gane onto the back foot immediately. From his bike, Gane was nevertheless able to snap Hokit\u2019s chin back repeatedly. It didn\u2019t deter Hokit and his fastball of a right hand, but those jabs were the most significant punches of the opening frame. In addition, Gane did well to start punching the body early in the fight.<\/p>\n Gane was operating without kicks, however, in fear of the takedown, and he was sprinting all over the cage. As a result, he started breathing more heavily in the second, and Hokit was able to close the gap more often. By the third, Hokit was dictating the pace and landing the better shots. Not only did he connect with the right hand, but he started stomping on Gane\u2019s foot like he was trying to put out a fire, and he also scored some knifing elbows from the clinch.<\/p>\n In round four, Gane made a decision that changed the entire fight. After running around for 15 straight minutes, Gane began to stand his ground and put more weight into his strikes. In addition, Gane had avoided throwing kicks and knees for much of the fight in fear of the takedown. Since Hokit hadn\u2019t managed to do much with his wrestling in the first three rounds, Gane was able to more effectively open up with his other weapons and take that risk.<\/p>\n A ripping left kick to the body opened the fourth, and I would have loved to see more of them. Instead, Gane found his best success of the fight with hard knees to the body. Sitting down on his shots produced more clinches in the open, and Gane used those clinches to frame and create distance for knees to the mid-section. Hokit may have kept his poker face through all those jabs early, but he couldn\u2019t hide his reaction to the knees. His volume dropped off significantly, allowing Gane to retake control and actually finish the fifth round by pressing the action.<\/p>\n In the face of Hokit\u2019s pressure, the champion was forced to walk a delicate tightrope and ultimately made the right decisions in time to walk away with the belt.<\/p>\n As for Hokit, there are two takeaways that feel almost contradicting. On the negative side, his game was incredibly limited. Failing to build off the right hand threat or do anything significant with his takedowns cost him badly. If he could have strung together more punches, chopped some low kicks, or used his hands to deflect jabs at all, perhaps he wins this fight! His inexperience was glaringly obvious at times.<\/p>\n Yet, it\u2019s hard not to be impressed by Hokit. I walk away quite convinced he\u2019ll win a title at some point. He already has so many of the skills that make up a champion, and just a little refinement would go an incredibly long way. If Hokit can just add a couple more weapons before<\/em> he takes serious damage, a title reign feels imminent.<\/p>\n It\u2019s nice to be positive about a Heavyweight fight for a change.<\/p>\n NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 14: Kayla Harrison of the United States and Amanda Nunes of Brazil grapple in the women\u2019s bantamweight bout during UFC 334 at Madison Square Garden on November 14, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier\/Getty Images) Getty Images<\/p>\n I found Nunes vs. Harrison to be extremely irritating.<\/p>\n Nunes\u2019 decision-making was unbelievably awful. She was clearly winning on the feet with zero fear of the return fire. Time and time again, Nunes showed excellent anti-Judo tactics by framing the hips and inserting her forehead into Harrison\u2019s jaw. Harrison couldn\u2019t get her hips close, and thus she couldn\u2019t wrestle. All of her typical throws and trips were shut down \u2026 at least until Nunes started trying to wrestle herself rather than disengage!<\/p>\n For three straight rounds, Nunes was punished for her insistence on offensively wrestling and hanging around in the clinch. Yet, she never learned her lesson. It was genuinely baffling to watch Nunes get reversed and punched in the face and then do it all over again! The only possible explanation that comes to mind is perhaps Nunes submitted Harrison often in the gym years ago, motivating her to take the fight to the canvas.<\/p>\n Aside from the abysmal Fight IQ? Nunes looked fresh. She would lose a round (because of her own bad decisions) and then smile her way to her corner, whereas Harrison was huffing and puffing between rounds. Harrison deserves props for pulling off the sudden rear naked choke in a well-executed sequence \u2014 it was clearly part of the American Top Team game plan to parry Nunes\u2019 front kick and wrestle off that entrance \u2014 but she was a step behind for large portions of the fight. I certainly don\u2019t walk away from this fight thinking that Harrison is outright better than Nunes, whose prime was more than half-a-decade ago.<\/p>\n Underperformance is especially disappointing in a collision of champions.<\/p>\n NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 14: Kevin Holland of the United States looks on in his welterweight bout against Uros Medic of Serbia during UFC 334 at Madison Square Garden on November 14, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier\/Getty Images) Getty Images<\/p>\n Ahead of Kevin Holland<\/strong> vs. Uros Medic<\/strong>, I wrote that there were two likely outcomes. On one hand, Medic could win via quick KO, because that\u2019s the way he wins fights. Conversely, Holland is impossible to KO, and Medic typically implodes when unable to find the early stoppage. Something had to give, and my final call was Holland via club-and-sub. Alas, I forgot the secret third option, ever-present in every \u201cTrailblazer\u201d fight.<\/p>\n A weird decision where nothing really happens for long stretches of time.<\/p>\n I was on the money early. Medic surged forward, punched a brick wall, and then was hurt in return by Holland\u2019s sneaky power and lanky uppercuts. Holland nearly locked up a d\u2019arce choke to secure the first-round finish, but Medic showed unexpected composure and ground skills to avoid tapping out.<\/p>\n Then \u2026 it all fell apart. Medic kicked Holland low twice, costing himself a point. Holland thoroughly outpointed Medic in the second but failed to push his advantage much. Holland completely took the third round off and took some baseball bats to the face in the process, but that legendary chin held up.<\/p>\n It should\u2019ve been a clear 29-27 decision for \u201cBig Mouth.\u201d Instead, the utterly incompetent officiants scored the bout a draw, and Holland loses out on his deserved climb a few rungs up the Welterweight ladder.<\/p>\n NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 14: Charles Radtke of the United States and Stephen Thompson of the United States exchange punches in their welterweight bout during UFC 334 at Madison Square Garden on November 14, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier\/Getty Images) Getty Images<\/p>\n 43-year-old Stephen Thompson<\/strong> couldn\u2019t have scripted his final UFC moments any better.<\/p>\n Charles Radtke<\/strong> opened the fight with pressure, putting together combinations and takedown attempts. The former mostly missed, but he found early success with his double leg shot along the fence. He was able to drag \u201cWonderboy\u201d to the floor multiple times, but that was the extent of his grappling success. He couldn\u2019t establish a dominant position or truly control Thompson.<\/p>\n Wrestling without control isn\u2019t sustainable. Radtke began to fatigue, allowing Thompson the opportunity to show off his masterful kickboxing. Before too long, Thompson was popping his opponent with jabs and establishing his distance with kicks. Midway through the second, Thompson was fully sitting down on punches and trying to hurt Radtke with little fear of the takedown. A toe stab to the liver late in the round hurt Radtke, fully shifting the momentum to the veteran\u2019s corner.<\/p>\n Radtke tried to push back in the third, but he was getting touched up. Thompson cracked him with a hook kick to the face right away! A couple minutes later, \u201cWonderboy\u201d spun into a wheel kick that knocked Radtke out through his gloves<\/em>, which is pretty much the perfect ending for the career of a legendary karateka.<\/p>\n Stephen Thompson is often forgotten in the conversation of best fighters to never win gold \u2014 he shouldn\u2019t be. At his peak, he demolished Johnny Hendricks<\/strong> in less than four minutes when \u201cBig Rigg\u201d was also still at his best. He picked apart a prime Rory MacDonald<\/strong> for five rounds, and a majority of viewers and media outlets scored the Tyron Woodley<\/strong> title rematch for the striker.<\/p>\n Between his incredible class and elite performances, Thompson stands alongside Lyoto Machida<\/strong> as the<\/em> representative of Karate in MMA.<\/p>\n NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 14: (R-L) Bia Mesquita of Brazil reacts after her victory over Macy Chiasson in their women\u2019s bantamweight fight during the UFC 334 event at Madison Square Garden on November 14, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Jeff Bottari\/Zuffa LLC)<\/p>\n Is women\u2019s Bantamweight coming to an end? Title fight atop the card aside, I don\u2019t think most fans would be upset. Neither Nunes nor Harrison intend on fighting that many more times at 135 pounds. Most of the WBW bouts are not that fun to watch, and there isn\u2019t much talent coming up the pipe.<\/p>\n Bia Mesquita<\/strong> is an obvious exception. The jiu-jitsu black belt and IBJJF Hall of Famer has won four UFC bouts in the last 13 months, sprinting up the ranks and stopping every opponent in the process. She steamrolled Macy Chiasson<\/strong> last night, taking her down easily, landing some brutal elbows, and then wrapping up a rear naked choke in the opening round.<\/p>\n She could fight for gold within the next 12 months \u2026 if the division is still around by then.<\/p>\n NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 14: (L-R) Cesar Almeida of Brazil punches Donte Johnson in their catchweight (190) fight during the UFC 334 event at Madison Square Garden on November 14, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Jeff Bottari\/Zuffa LLC)<\/p>\nA Record-Setting Heavyweight War<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
Nunes Plays With Fire, Gets Burned<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
They Robbed Kevin Holland<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
Wonderboy\u2019s Storybook Retirement<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
Bantamweight\u2019s Uncertain Future<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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For complete <\/strong>UFC 334 results and play-by-play, click here.<\/strong><\/h5>\n