A pair of title fights are set for Saturday when UFC 334 goes down at Madison Square Garden in New York. In the main event, Ciryl Gane will make his first defense of the UFC heavyweight championship when he takes on rising star Josh Hokit.
While Gane vs. Hokit is a big fight, the co-main event is one of the most anticipated women's fights in MMA history. Amanda Nunes, the greatest women's MMA fighter ever, returns from retirement as she looks to recapture the bantamweight championship against former Olympian Kayla Harrison.
Saturday night should also feature plenty of action on the undercard with knockout artists aplenty. Caio Borralho looks to turn away a fast-rising challenger in Yousri Belgaroui, who has finished all three of his UFC opponents to date. Uros Medic looks to take the next step toward title contention at welterweight when he faces veteran Kevin Holland. And new prospect Bilal Hasan is sure to put on a show when he takes on Luis Gurule in the main card opener.
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With such an interesting card set for UFC 334, there will no doubt be plenty of interest in the event, including at sportsbooks. With that in mind, we've once again looked at all the event's main card fights to identify our best bets for each.
UFC 334: An inside look at Josh Hokit's incredible rise to title challenger in just one year
Brian Campbell
After a strong 4-1 result for our best bets for UFC 333, we are sitting just under .500 at 27-29 for the year. Now we look ahead to this weekend with the goal of getting back in the black, with our only rule remaining that all bets must be at odds of -250 or better. Let's take a look at this week's picks with odds via DraftKings Sportsbook.
Bilal Hasan vs. Luis Gurule
Under 1.5 rounds (-175)
Bilal Hasan is a pretty massive -1200 favorite and is even -800 at -3.5 on the point spread line. After an impressive showing on Dana White's Contender Series and a knockout in his UFC debut, it's pretty clear that Hasan's being given another chance to impress when he faces Luis Gurule, who is 1-4 since his own appearance on Contender Series. Roughly a quarter of flyweight non-title fights end before the midway point of the second round. Hasan scored one of those early stoppages in his first UFC fight, but that win came at the 2:28 mark of Round 2, coming in just two seconds on the "under" side. Gurule has had a rough go of it in the UFC, and this fight is set up to continue Hasan's rise, so I'll side with him getting it done quickly.
Uros Medic vs. Kevin Holland
Uros Medic moneyline (-155)
Kevin Holland is one of the trickiest fighters to understand in the game. He can look fantastic using his length and craftiness and also can get dominated by fighters who are dialed in. Holland is 8-10 since 2021, which isn't a great record, but 18 fights since the start of 2021 is a wild career pace. Uros Medic is riding a four-fight knockout streak, most recently taking just 30 seconds to stop Daniel Rodriguez in Serbia. Medic brings big power and a lot of speed, so if he can get inside of Holland's reach, he can likely do some very good work. Medic just needs to stick to the gameplan and not be baited by Holland's antics. If Medic hesitates to move forward, he's in trouble, but I think he has the right style to break Holland down over the course of the fight.
Caio Borralho vs. Yousri Belgaroui
Caio Borralho moneyline (-155)
This fight likely comes down to which version of Caio Borralho shows up. Early in his UFC career, we saw Borralho willing to use takedowns and ground control, such as when he scored four takedowns of Armen Petrosyan for more than 10 minutes of control time. Borralho only has one takedown in his five most recent fights. Both styles have worked well for Borralho, who has an 8-1 UFC record, but against Yousri Belgaroui, Borralho will have a far easier time finding his old takedown and ground game style. Belgaroui is a fantastic kickboxer, who has blitzed his UFC competition so far. Even in finding success on the feet, Belgaroui has been taken down plenty in his short UFC career and Borralho is a good enough fighter to take advantage of that skill gap to find a win.
Kayla Harrison vs. Amanda Nunes
Over 3.5 rounds (+105)
Every now and then, you get a fight where the best you can say is, "Man, I don't know." Nunes might be impacted by rust from the time since her retirement. Harrison might also be a bit rusty in recovering from neck surgery. There's no real way to know how those issues factor into how things play out. I lean toward this fight stretching on for a while, however, with both women being a bit out of form and likely cautious of what the other brings to the cage. Harrison will want to score some takedowns and I think she can hold Nunes down, but maybe not find a finish. Around the third round, I expect both women to show some fatigue and things could get a little ugly. I think things are set up to get into the late stages, so I'll go with the over.
Ciryl Gane vs. Josh Hokit
Ciryl Gane moneyline (-205)
Hokit's rise has been admirable, whatever you feel about his behavior outside of the fight. But this is a big jump for him. Gane has been susceptible to takedowns in the past, most notably against Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou. The Ngannou fight is more of a red flag than getting taken down by Jones, but that fight also took place almost five years ago and I think Gane has improved plenty since then. Gane has the size, reach and striking advantage in this fight, so if he can keep from getting taken down, this may be an easy title defense for him. Hokit showed grit and toughness in his war with Curtis Blaydes, but getting into a fight like that against Gane will go badly for him in a hurry. I'm going with the more proven commodity with the better chances of putting out some serious damage in the main event.
