Josh Hokit has Ciryl Gane and a heavyweight title fight on his calendar, and he still found room for a side beef with Alexander Volkov. After Volkov labeled a fight with him the “easiest fight ever,” Hokit answered with a scouting report that MMA Sucka boiled down to four words: “Zero Finishes, Pure Boring.”
The report frames Hokit’s comments as a response, so Volkov threw the first shot. The details beyond that are thin. MMA Sucka’s coverage paints Hokit going after Volkov’s style, accusing him of failing to finish fights and of putting people to sleep in the Octagon. That’s Hokit’s characterization, and he isn’t exactly a neutral judge of another heavyweight’s highlight reel this month.
The title fight he’s actually supposed to be thinking about
Hokit headlines UFC 334 at Madison Square Garden on November 14 against Gane, with the heavyweight belt on the line. The road to that belt has been messy. Gane’s fight with Tom Aspinall at UFC 321 ended in a no-contest after repeated eye pokes left Aspinall unable to continue, and Aspinall later vacated the title.
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Hokit is undefeated, but critics have pointed out he hasn’t beaten a top-five heavyweight. His title shot follows a win over a 41-year-old Derrick Lewis. That’s the gap Volkov was presumably poking at, and it’s the same gap Alex Pereira has been poking at from the other side.
Pereira, who many fans expected to land the heavyweight title shot himself, shared the UFC 334 poster on his Instagram story and wondered aloud why Kayla Harrison vs. Amanda Nunes wasn’t the main event. His caption: “Why the women’s fight is not the main event? Okay, let me help promote this cause no one is payin attention to it…” Pereira instead gets Sergei Pavlovich in a five-round heavyweight bout at UFC 335 on December 12.
Hokit hasn’t been quiet about anybody lately. He also recently ripped Aspinall ahead of the MSG fight, according to a Sports Illustrated headline, so Volkov is joining a growing list.
The rest of the card has its own problems. Nazim Sadykhov pulled out this week with an injury after his original opponent, Jefferson Nascimento, withdrew last month, which knocked UFC 334 down from 14 fights.
Quick take
I’ll take a heavyweight who answers trash talk straight over one who posts a cryptic emoji and lets his manager handle it. Hokit says what he thinks, and the division needs more of that. But the “zero finishes” line carries a little less weight coming from a guy whose biggest win is over a 41-year-old Lewis. Hokit has a direct way to end every argument about his resume, Volkov’s included, and it’s beating Gane in the main event at the Garden on November 14.
