Jon Anik has watched a lot of heavyweights walk into title fights, and he apparently thinks this one could be different. In an exclusive with the New York Post published Friday, the UFC’s lead play-by-play man said Josh Hokit has a chance to have his UFC legend born at Madison Square Garden, where Hokit challenges Ciryl Gane for the undisputed heavyweight championship at UFC 334 on Nov. 14.
That endorsement carries some weight. Anik joined the UFC in 2012 after more than five years at ESPN, and he has called every pay-per-view as the promotion’s main voice since Mike Goldberg left in 2017. He doesn’t usually hand out the word “legend” to a fighter who hasn’t won the belt yet.
Hokit’s route to this cage is about as unusual as heavyweight résumés get. He grew up in Wasco and Clovis, California, turned down a wrestling scholarship to Drexel because the school had no football team, and walked on at Fresno State to do both. He ran for 1,260 yards and 17 touchdowns in college and became Fresno’s first wrestling All-American since Mario Botelho in 2003. The San Francisco 49ers signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2020, and he bounced between the practice squad and roster cuts until August 2022, followed by a five-day stint with the Arizona Cardinals.
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He didn’t make his MMA debut until October 2023, submitting Spencer Smith with an arm-triangle in Round 3 at Bellator 300. An armbar of Sean Rose followed in 2024, then three wins in Legacy Fighting Alliance before the UFC came calling. He’s now 10-0, fights out of Jackson-Wink MMA and sits at No. 10 in the Knockout Daily heavyweight rankings. His last fight was June 14. He turned 29 on Thursday, two days before the biggest night of his life.
That’s a fast climb, and I’d usually be the first to grumble about a title shot arriving this early. But a fighter who spent years grinding through NFL practice squads and Division I wrestling rooms has done the hard way more than once.
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He has also made fight week his own. A crude line from the press conference had Amanda Nunes cracking up, according to a Championship Rounds clip, and at the weigh-ins he pulled his drunk routine again, lying motionless on the scale for over a minute. Tommy McMillen’s reaction on X: “Bro tryna hit my move.”
The joke lands differently if he wins. Hokit and Gane headline UFC 334 at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.
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