Josh Hokit turned down a handshake from Gable Steveson and then made sure everyone heard about it. In a clip shared via Tim Welch and reposted by Dovy on X, the UFC heavyweight described running into the Olympic gold medalist, who extended his hand like nothing was wrong between them. Hokit said his answer was a profane refusal, adding that the two of them “ain’t no friends.”
Hokit claimed he held back only because someone he identified as Greg was standing right there. “Greg was right there so I kept it respectful,” he said, which is an interesting definition of respectful given what came next. He told Steveson not to look at him or speak to him, then laid out the stakes as he saw them: “you’re lucky I got a fight in two weeks or it would be bad, for real.” He closed the clip by throwing an ableist slur at Steveson.
Hokit didn’t explain what started the bad blood, and Steveson hasn’t responded in the material available.
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What Hokit has on his plate
The fight Hokit referenced is the biggest of his life. The UFC is promoting him as the headliner of UFC 334 in New York, where the promotion says he’s aiming to become heavyweight champion of the world. The company has been running the hype machine hard, posting his full fight against Curtis Blaydes on its official X account this week to push ticket sales.
Dana White has been candid about his relationship with Hokit. Speaking with Jim Rome, White admitted he wasn’t always a fan of how Hokit ran his mouth. “I didn’t like some of the things he said, so I might’ve threw some tough guys at him,” White said. Hokit apparently passed enough of those tests to earn a main event, and White now sounds fully on board. “We are all in with Josh Hokit, so whatever’s gonna happen is gonna happen,” White said, before predicting that a lot of nonsense would happen around fight week (he used a saltier word).
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Hokit’s talking has already drawn attention from the top of the division. Ciryl Gane told RMC Sport that Hokit’s trash talk wouldn’t work on him unless Hokit went after his mother. Luke Thomas replied on X that Hokit would now probably do exactly that, which, judging by Saturday’s clip, is a fair bet.
Quick take
I love a real grudge, and heavyweight could use a few. But this one was a tired routine. A man walks up and offers his hand, and the guy two weeks from a title shot uses the moment to film a monologue and finish it with a slur. Steveson offering the handshake comes off as the more composed move, and Hokit’s “lucky I got a fight” line is the kind of thing fighters say when they know nobody will ever check. White told everyone that a lot of stupid stuff would happen before UFC 334, and Hokit is doing his part to prove him right. Whether he can back any of it up gets settled in New York in two weeks, and that fight is the only answer to this that will count.
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