Madison Square Garden is where combat legends are made.
Jack Dempsey knocked out Bill Brennan there in 1920. Rocky Marciano stopped Joe Louis in 1951. Cassius Clay survived a hotly disputed decision over Doug Jones in 1963.
MMA had to wait much longer for its turn.
New York didn’t legalize the sport until 2016, ending a ban that kept the UFC out of the state for nearly two decades.
When the promotion finally arrived for UFC 205 that November, a new legend was born.
Featherweight champion Conor McGregor moved up a weight class and styled on Eddie Alvarez for a second-round TKO to become the UFC’s first simultaneous two-division champion.
“I’d like to take this chance to apologize to absolutely nobody,” McGregor said in the center of the octagon on Nov. 12, 2016, after a masterful performance that made history again.
A new star may be born on Saturday. Could it be Josh Hokit?
UFC’s lead commentator Jon Anik told The Post who he thinks could etch his name into the lore of the Mecca of basketball, and now combat sports, at UFC 334.
“Well, it’s just crazy, right? As a Boston guy who grew up rooting against all of these New York teams, there is just something so undeniably special about this city,” Anik told The Post. “I don’t know that there’s anywhere else in the world that can bottle that electricity, and it feels just as electric every time you come here.”
UFC has returned to the Garden each year this same week since 2016, with legendary performances from McGregor, Georges St-Pierre, Alex Pereira and Jorge Masvidal, among many others.
“There’s just something so special about this week,” Anik said of fighting at Madison Square Garden. “As you well know, it is the biggest week of most calendar years. Were it not for UFC Freedom 250, this would be the biggest show of the year. So needless to say, we’re all champing at the bit to get to the Mecca Saturday night.”
You may remember at the UFC Freedom 250 showcase on the White House South Lawn, Hokit defeated Derrick Lewis and infamously said, “Michelle Obama is a man,” which completely overshadowed a sterling performance.
“I think we make so much of Josh Hokit’s brashness, his self-belief, and his crudeness at times, and maybe we don’t make enough of the athlete — the guy who was on the San Francisco 49ers practice squad for two years, and the guy who not only wrestled in college but also scored 17 touchdowns for Fresno State as a fullback,” Anik said. “So I think he’s got a lot of different tools. His ability to bring those weapons to the table at the right time could produce an undisputed heavyweight title this weekend. But he’s the underdog for a reason, and that’s why they play the games.”
Hokit, a significant underdog to former title challenger Ciryl Gane in this bout, will need to make it dirty early and often to have a chance against the elite athlete Gane.
“Well, I think he needs to try to make it dirty. I think he needs to try to invoke some fatigue in Ciryl Gane and ideally get it to those championship rounds,” Anik explained a potential path to victory for Hokit. “There are a lot of intangibles and variables on both sides; we don’t know who’s going to be the fresher fighter if this thing goes to the championship rounds. But I do believe if Hokit can dirty box and take advantage of his hand speed — it’s going to be rare for Ciryl to be staring across the Octagon at a guy who can match his speed in some respects. So I think he’s got to make it dirty; he’s got to wrestle, be productive with the ground-and-pound, and I think a longer fight favors Josh Hokit. It’s not as though he’s some +500 underdog — he’s +190 right now. So I think a lot of people think he’s got a chance, even if they don’t necessarily view him as a live underdog.”
Hokit will be in a dogfight with Gane, and while he does some bizarre things to draw attention, he’s a decorated wrestler and forward pressure pusher with mastermind Greg Jackson and Jackson Wink in his corner, who famously helped create the powerhouse that was Jon Jones, the undefeated superstar that is considered by most to be the greatest fighter of all time.
At the Madison Square Garden card, IBM, with which Anik is partnered, will test new data points around “corner enthusiasm” to track how each fighter’s corner views their fighter’s performance between rounds.
For Hokit, he will be looking for dirty boxing and wrestling to make this fight difficult to sneak away with a victory.
As he looks for a roadmap to victory, his coach’s commentary will be one to keep an eye on as we get to the championship rounds.
“Now with this AI-powered technology, we can, in real time, give sort of a score to everything that we are getting out of that corner in terms of energy, inflection, composure, and chaos. Are they deflated in tone?” Anik added. “Are they aggressive in tone? Are they trying to manipulate judges by calling out every strike? It’s an interesting tool. It’s going to be fascinating to see how it’s incorporated into the broadcast, and I think it’s just the latest example of not just the UFC, but IBM collaboratively not resting on their laurels, trying to see how we can use the tools we have to take the telecasts of this great sport to the next level.”
