Madison Square Garden is once again preparing for a heavyweight-sized UFC spectacle.
For the third time in four years, the UFC will bring a heavyweight title fight to The World’s Most Famous Arena. Newly elevated champion Ciryl Gane will make his first defense against Josh Hokit in the UFC 334 main event on Nov. 14.
The co-main event offers a major attraction of its own: a highly anticipated women’s bantamweight showdown between champion Kayla Harrison and Hall of Famer Amanda Nunes. The UFC has promoted the matchup as its “most anticipated women’s fight ever.”
The UFC confirmed both marquee championship bouts, along with the complete UFC 334 fight card, during Saturday night’s UFC 331 broadcast.
Gane captured interim gold by defeating former two-division champion Alex Pereira at the White House in June. During the announcement, he was formally identified as the undisputed heavyweight champion, only days after former titleholder Tom Aspinall vacated the belt while continuing to recover from eye injuries sustained during his no contest against Gane last October. That bout ended after an illegal double-eye poke.
Hokit, a former NFL player who spent time with the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals without appearing in a regular-season game, has quickly emerged as a UFC heavyweight contender. A series of unusual, pro wrestling-style interviews and two entertaining victories over ranked opponents earlier this year helped earn him a title opportunity, despite making his UFC debut in August 2025.
Harrison and Nunes were originally scheduled to meet in January, but a neck injury suffered by the champion forced the fight to be postponed indefinitely.
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Bringing the matchup back to New York suggests Harrison has recovered sufficiently to face Nunes, widely regarded as one of the greatest female fighters in MMA history. The two were once friends and trained together at American Top Team.
The rest of the UFC 334 main card features a middleweight bout between Caio Borralho and Yousri Belgaroui, a welterweight meeting between Uros Medic and Kevin Holland, and a flyweight contest pitting Bilal Hasan against Luis Gurule.
The preliminary card is scheduled to precede the main card, which is expected to begin at 9 p.m. The prelims include:
The UFC 334 heavyweight championship bout continues a recent tradition of major title fights at Madison Square Garden. Previous Garden headliners included Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic in 2024 and the 2023 interim title fight between Tom Aspinall and Sergei Pavlovich.
The event also comes 10 years after the UFC made its landmark debut at Madison Square Garden.
The arena has hosted a UFC event every November since then, apart from 2020. That year, the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the promotion from holding events across the United States outside its UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas.