Dana White has nothing but respect for Josh Hokit following his performance against Ciryl Gane in the main event of UFC 334.
Hokit came up short against Gane after 25 minutes of action in Saturday's heavyweight title fight at Madison Square Garden in New York City. However, the pair delivered what could go down as one of the greatest heavyweight fights in UFC history.
White has previously made it clear that he is not particularly fond of some of Hokit's comments or his approach to promoting fights. Nevertheless, the UFC CEO put those differences aside while discussing the heavyweight contender's performance at Saturday's post-fight press conference.
"Listen, I've had my issues with Hokit, right? And you know, every fight I was like, 'This is the guy.' That's good, you know? Think about this tonight too. This was Hokit's first five-round main event, and he went five hard, crazy rounds," White said.
"The guy's got an unbelievable chin, unstoppable cardio, and I give him nothing but respect for the fight that he fought tonight. It was incredible."
White also highlighted the statistical significance of the contest, revealing that Gane and Hokit set new heavyweight division records during Saturday’s instant classic.
"They broke the significant strike record. They broke the total strike record in the heavyweight division," White added.
