Alexander Volkov has a scouting report on Josh Hokit, and it’s brutal in the politest way possible. Speaking to Helen Yee in comments shared on X by Dovy (@DovySimuMMA), the heavyweight contender said a matchup with Hokit would be “the easiest fight ever, easier title shot.”
Then he caught himself. “Sorry, Josh Hokit, I don’t want to say something bad about you. You are a nice guy,” Volkov said, before adding that he has no idea how things will actually play out. His pick for the man he’ll eventually face for the belt is the guy already holding it: “we should probably bet on Gane.”
That apology is the funniest part of the clip. It’s also the most Volkov thing imaginable. He’s a 6-foot-7 heavyweight who can’t even insult a guy who has spent his whole UFC run trying to be insulted.
View post on X
Here’s why the comment lands. Hokit, 28, faces Ciryl Gane for the UFC heavyweight title in the UFC 334 main event in November, and he’s getting there after only four fights in the promotion. He finished three of those four wins, and his fight with Curtis Blaydes was the kind of war that MMA Fighting called a legitimate Fight of the Year. He also talked his way into the spot. The trash talk has been relentless, and his post-fight interview at UFC White House on June 14 included comments about Michelle Obama that a lot of people felt crossed a line. Dana White has said he isn’t a fan of the antics.
Volkov, meanwhile, was the name people kept bringing up when the booking dropped. Retired welterweight Matt Brown said on The Fighter vs. The Writer this week, “I think he’s probably the deserving guy right now to get the title shot over Hokit.” Brown added that “Hokit is getting it based off his mouth and based off his antics,” though he said he understood why the UFC made the call.
Gane is the reason Volkov is leaning the way he is. The Frenchman, a two-time interim champ, became undisputed heavyweight champion at UFC White House in June when he stopped Alex Pereira with strikes in Round 2. That win came with an asterisk attached for a lot of fans. Several of Gane’s shots landed on the back of Pereira’s head with Herb Dean refereeing, and a compilation of Gane’s fouls has been making the rounds on X this week. Veteran coach Ray Longo blasted the illegal shots on the Anik & Florian Podcast, but argued that Gane had looked like a world-beater in that fight before any of them landed. Pereira moves on to Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 335 on Dec. 12.
View post on X
So the picture for Volkov is simple. If Hokit pulls off the upset, Volkov sees the softest title fight of his career waiting for him. If Gane wins, which Volkov clearly expects, he gets a champion he would have to solve under the brightest lights in the division.
My take: Volkov just did more damage to Hokit with a polite apology than Hokit has done to anyone with a microphone. Hokit has built his whole run on making people angry, and here comes a veteran contender who refuses to get angry, calls him nice, and then says he’ll probably lose anyway. That’s a cold read. Hokit has finished three of four guys and earned real respect in that Blaydes fight, so I’m not writing him off. But if Volkov ends up standing across from Gane in 2027, he’ll have earned that seat the old-fashioned way, and he’ll have every right to be a little annoyed he had to wait for UFC 334 to sort it out.
