Josh Hokit has a pay-related explanation for the noise. In a clip from Daniel Cormier’s show that Championship Rounds posted on X, the two debated whether Hokit’s controversial comments are helping or hurting him, and Hokit pointed straight back at Cormier’s own history.
“You fought Jon Jones for $50K. I’m not going through that. I don’t want anyone to lowball me. If I gotta crack a few eggs to make an omlette, that’s what I’m gonna do,” Hokit said.
That is a pretty candid admission that the mouth is part of a contract strategy. The timing matters. Hokit (10-0) challenges Ciryl Gane for the UFC heavyweight title at UFC 334 on Nov. 14, and he’s been loud all week. At a press event, he delivered a crude line about the two sides of the table that clips from Happy Punch and Championship Rounds show Amanda Nunes laughing at and dapping him up for. A Yahoo Sports headline also says Hokit is open to fighting Tom Aspinall, though he raised a question about it. That report doesn’t spell out the question, so I won’t guess.
View post on X
The football and wrestling background explains why the UFC is comfortable putting him in this spot this fast. Hokit, who turned 29 on Nov. 12, was a two-sport athlete at Fresno State. There he earned All-American honors in wrestling and played tight end and fullback before landing on the San Francisco 49ers practice squad as an undrafted free agent. He debuted at Bellator 300 in October 2023, finishing Spencer Smith with an arm-triangle in Round 3. He now fights out of Jackson-Wink MMA and sits No. 10 in Knockout Daily’s heavyweight rankings.
View post on X
Gane (14-2) is the first French champion in UFC history and is No. 11 on the UFC’s pound-for-pound list. He’s a former Muay Thai titleholder who also owns UFC wins by heel hook and arm-triangle. That second detail is the one Hokit’s camp should be staring at. A wrestler’s path to the belt usually runs through takedowns, and Gane has shown he can punish heavyweights who end up in bad positions on the mat. Both men last fought on June 14, so neither has a layoff excuse.
They already squared off at the face-off Spinnin Backfist posted on Nov. 10. Hokit’s line to Cormier makes his plan for the next contract clear. If he takes the belt from Gane on Nov. 14, the Aspinall conversation becomes a negotiation, and he has already told everyone he won’t accept a lowball offer.
View post on X
