Josh Hokit lost to Ciryl Gane on Saturday night at UFC 334, then went on Instagram and asked for the fight again. Dana White’s answer at the post-fight press conference started with a laugh and ended with him declining to rule out a rematch.
Hokit didn’t bother with subtlety. He asked for an immediate rematch and tagged White, matchmaker Mick Maynard and UFC executive Hunter Campbell, basically everyone in the building with the power to say yes. White gave his usual line about not booking fights the night of an event, then spent the rest of his answer praising a guy he has been ripping on for a year.
“Okay. Listen, I’ve had my issues with Hokit,” White said, before pointing out that this was Hokit’s first five-round main event and calling his chin and cardio elite.
View post on X
He went further later in the presser. “I thought this guy was a big-mouth goofball and I hated his schtick and the whole thing,” White said. “I respect the s**t out of that guy [now]. He is the real deal.”
That’s a long way from where White stood before fight week. He had criticized Hokit’s antics at the White House and openly worried about what might happen if Hokit ever wore the belt. Hokit’s remarks about Michelle Obama had already made him one of the more divisive names on the roster.
The fight that changed his mind
Gane kept the heavyweight title by unanimous decision inside Madison Square Garden, his first successful defense. Bloody Elbow reported the margin was a single point. Hokit, ranked No. 4 and undefeated coming in, set a pace you rarely see from heavyweights, pushing Gane backward with wild combinations, clinch elbows, takedown attempts and a big slam in the first round.
Gane weathered it and took over late. All three judges gave him the fourth and fifth rounds, according to MMA Mania, which is the cleanest argument against Hokit’s request. A fighter who loses both championship rounds on every card has a hard time claiming he got robbed.
View post on X
The numbers were absurd. The two combined for 388 significant strikes, a UFC heavyweight record, and both took home $100,000 Fight of the Night bonuses. Both men were sent to a local hospital for precautionary CT scans of their heads and faces. Hokit, 29, also said an eye poke in the opening round messed with his vision for the rest of the fight.
What’s next
The line forming behind Gane is crowded. The winner of Alex Pereira vs. Sergei Pavlovich looks like the most likely next challenger. A trilogy with Alexander Volkov is out there, and so is a rematch with Tom Aspinall. Hokit also got this title shot after just four UFC wins, roughly a year after his promotional debut, so the UFC could easily ask him for one more.
My take: Hokit doesn’t get the immediate rematch, and he shouldn’t. Losing the last 10 minutes on all three cards isn’t a robbery. But a heavyweight who sets a striking record in his first-ever five-rounder, gets his eye poked in the first round and still makes it close has earned the right to be annoying about it. Give him a top-five name in the spring, and if he wins, book Gane II and let it happen again.
