Josh Hokit has no plans to dial anything back. Days out from his UFC 334 title fight with Ciryl Gane, Hokit explained the reasoning behind the over-the-top persona he’s carried through his sudden run, and it comes down to regret. He told outlets this week, in a line MMA Sucka ran as its headline, “I’m gonna regret that I didn’t go harder,” and NDTV Sports led with another one: “I’m not gonna play it safe.” His argument is that fight careers end, and he’d rather look back at too much than too little.
For anybody wondering what “going harder” sounds like, he gave a demonstration while talking with Ariel Helwani. Asked how he’d respond if Gane tried anything dirty, Hokit laid out an escalation ladder that started with an eye poke and ended somewhere near a European military campaign. MMA Orbit clipped it:
“If he pokes my eye, I’m gonna hit him in the back of the head. If he hits me in the back of the head, I’m hitting him low. If he hits me low, I’m stabbing him now. If he stabs me, I’m shooting him. If he shoots me, I’m finding his family and killing them. If he finds my family and kills them, I’m going to France and conquering them.”
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So that’s where we are with fight week.
The bit has been running all week. Hokit and Gane faced off for the first time in Times Square on Tuesday and traded words, per MMA Junkie. A day earlier, Spinnin Backfist posted footage of Hokit snapping into character the second he spotted Alex Pereira.
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The part that doesn’t fit the cartoon is where he sleeps. Hokit told Helwani he still lives in the dorms at Jackson Wink during camps, and he sold it about as well as anyone has ever sold a cockroach. “There’s something about a cockroach crawling across the floor, a crackhead outside keeping you up at night, that reminds you of how it all started for you,” he said. He added more practical reasons too. The cages and open mat sit right outside his door, he’s had the room for two years, and he figured it was simpler than buying a house. He also pointed to the altitude, the lack of distractions and daily access to Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn.
That’s the full picture heading into UFC 334 this weekend. Gane is across the cage, a title is on the line and Hokit has promised not to hold anything back on the microphone.
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My take. I’ve spent years warning people off narrative picks, and Hokit is a narrative wrapped in a narrative, so I’m not handing you a number based on how loud a man is in Times Square. The dorm detail is the one I’d actually weigh. A guy who sleeps 30 feet from the mats at altitude, with Jackson and Winkeljohn down the hall, is doing the boring stuff right while the persona soaks up the airtime. The France material is free entertainment. Whether the guy who lives with the cockroaches shows up for 25 minutes against Gane gets settled this weekend, and that’s the only part I’ll be betting on.