DUBAI – Don't expect coach Fernand Lopez to underestimate Josh Hokit.
Newly promoted heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane (14-2 MMA, 11-2 UFC) defends his title against Hokit (10-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) in the UFC 334 main event on Nov. 14 from Madison Square Garden in New York.
Lopez compared Hokit's style to former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, and sees him as a unique challenge for Gane.
"He's not just a regular, like another heavyweight just coming forward to punch people," Lopez told MMA Junkie of Hokit. "He's something. I think that besides Cain Velasquez, that's a long time we didn't have a kind of wrestler that can punch you, make you guess, go for wrestling. If it's not working, go back to try to lock you down. He's not just relying on wrestling. He can put you out on the feet. He can put you out, submit you, or ground-and-pound you. It's well deserved for him, and he's a huge challenge for Ciryl."
Gane's losses have come on the ground as the champion has troubled most of his opposition on the feet. Lopez expects Hokit to try and take the fight to the mat, but also sees numerous exchanges on the feet.
"Of course he will wrestle, but he's not going to wrestle right away because the good way to wrestle is to pretend that you will be striking," Lopez said. "The good way to strike is pretend that you will be wrestling someone. So that's the difference. That's what he would be there to do. Ciryl creates a space between you and him, and Josh Hokit is the guy that takes out that space between you and him and brings the fight to you – brings the fight very hard, pressure, punches, and level change, and he can do that for a long time. He just hit the heavyweight record of strikes, like 177 significant strikes with the Curtis Blaydes fight. That's huge. That shows you how good he is."
Hokit has already started with his antics by targeting Gane in one of his skits, but Lopez doesn't see anything rattling Gane.
"The guy is doing his thing," Lopez said. He's selling the fight. I'm not mad about it. I just don't want to get involved in it or be talking about it, but the guy is selling the fight. He's very good. When you can back up everything that you're saying, so far, that's the key. He's backing it up. He's 10-0. He's beating everyone. He's getting there.
"He got tested with a very accomplished guy like Curtis Blaydes and drowned him. And he got in there with a dangerous guy like Derrick Lewis, who can just change everything with one mistake, finished him in the second round. He's there. I mean, you don't get better than that in an up-and-coming fighter. Of course, you have the OG, the big names that we have in the division, the Avengers, that Ciryl faced before, but we need that young people to come there and bring the fresh experience."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Ciryl Gane's coach compares 'huge challenge' Josh Hokit to UFC legend