The Real Winners and Losers From UFC 334

It was fight night. It was Madison Square Garden.

Which made it a particularly big fight night in midtown Manhattan, where Dana White and Co. touched down with a UFC 334 show that was topped by two title fights.

The B/R combat team was in the house from the earliest prelim to the final strike of the main event and compiled a list of the event's definitive winners and losers.

Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought in the app comments.

Winner: And Still (For the First Time)

Ciryl Gane became the UFC's heavyweight champion under dubious circumstances after his fight with Tom Aspinall ended thanks to an eye poke that prompted Aspinall, who'd arrived as the incumbent, to later announce he'd vacated the belt due to injury.

So, when Gane arrived to defend against streaking contender Josh Hokit, who'd worked himself into the opportunity with a series of impressive wins and bombastic interviews, it wasn't hard to find people who doubted the champ's ability to handle the challenge.

The fact that he'd lost to Jon Jones in 124 seconds didn't help the perception.

Turns out they needn't have worried.

Though the chatty Hokit was frenetic and intermittently effective through the first three rounds, his gas tank dipped toward E across the final 10 minutes and allowed Gane to retake the initiative on the way to 48-47 tallies on all three official scorecards.

"This guy is a mother**ker," Gane said. "He did very well."

Loser: Unhappy Return

Amanda Nunes is a slam-dunk Hall of Famer. Perhaps the greatest female ever.

But the official record shows her magical UFC run ended with a 16-2 record more than three years ago, where she handled Irene Aldana by a wide unanimous decision.

And by the time she climbed into the cage to meet Kayla Harrison for the bantamweight title that the Ohioan had captured in Nunes's absence, it was clear her time had passed.

The Brazilian's interrupted run as the top woman in the sport officially ended in the fourth round when Harrison caught her attempt to land a right-legged kick, spun her to the floor and immediately pounced with a strike before locking in the rear-naked choke that prompted "The Lioness" to tap in surrender at 1:29.

It was her first loss since Julianna Pena beat her, also by rear-naked choke, in 2021.

Winner: Wonderboy's Walkaway

Walkaway fights don't go as well as it did for Stephen Thompson.

But the popular welterweight striking savant not only left the UFC on his own terms, but he did it in signature style—flattening Charles Radtke with a right-legged spinning heel kick that led to the fight's abrupt end at 2:54 of Round 3.

The win let Thompson finish his UFC run at 13-9-1 with seven KOs and ended a nearly four-year drought since his most recent win against Kevin Holland in December 2022.

Loser: Jim Miller's Milestones

He'd fought more fights than anyone in UFC history. And he'd won more fights than anyone in UFC history. But neither record did Jim Miller any good on Saturday night.

Instead, he ran into an aggressive and hungry 32-year-old in Terrance McKinney and was squashed by a left hand to the chin just past the midway point of Round 1 in a bout that was fought at 160 pounds after McKinney missed the 155-pound limit on Friday.

It was the first time Miller lost inside the distance since Charles Oliveira choked him out in 2018. McKinney, for the record, said he'd move to welterweight (170) for his next fight.

Loser: Donte Johnson's Record

Middleweight Donte Johnson arrived with a pristine record (9-0), an interesting nickname ("Lockjaw") and status as a significant betting favorite heading into his prelim scrap with 38-year-old veteran Cesar Almeida.

Johnson, who'd won three in the UFC and once on the Contender Series, came out fast and looked for an eighth first-round finish, but Almeida survived the storm and ultimately dumped Johnson to the floor with a right hand midway through the first.

He eventually rose, but a follow-up barrage along the fence prompted a stoppage at 3:20.

Winner: Bia Mesquita's Profile

It's hard to find people not excited by Bia Mesquita.

The 35-year-old Brazilian arrived to the UFC with a 5-0 record and reeled off her fourth straight octagonal win on Saturday's early prelim card with a first-round submission via rear naked choke over No. 14 bantamweight contender Macy Chiasson.

Mesquita quickly got the fight to her comfort zone on the mat and pelted Chiasson with strikes on the way to locking in the choke that ended matters at 3:23.