Josh Hokit thinks a win over Ciryl Gane fixes more than his own résumé. Ahead of Saturday’s UFC 334 title fight, Hokit said taking the belt would mean the “heavyweight division is saved,” according to MMA Junkie’s post on X.
That’s a big claim from a guy with 10 pro fights. It’s also on brand for the week he’s having.
Hokit is 10-0 and trains out of Jackson-Wink MMA. He’s No. 10 in the Knockout Daily heavyweight rankings. Gane is the champion, 14-2 out of MMA Factory, and the first Frenchman to hold a UFC title. Both men last fought on June 14, 2026, and they meet on Nov. 14 with the gold on the line.
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The road Hokit took to get here is a strange one. He was an All-American wrestler and a running back and fullback at Fresno State, then signed with the San Francisco 49ers as an undrafted free agent in 2020. After a short stop with the Arizona Cardinals, he signed with Bellator and debuted at Bellator 300 in October 2023, choking out Spencer Smith with an arm-triangle in the third round. Three LFA wins and a Contender Series trip later, he’s headlining a pay-per-view against a former Muay Thai champion.
The trash talk has been relentless. On Ariel Helwani’s show, Hokit laid out an escalating foul chain that started with “If he pokes my eye, I’m gonna hit him in the back of the head” and somehow ended with him “going to France and conquering them.” The two traded words at their first faceoff in Times Square on Tuesday.
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Not everybody’s sold on the act. Daniel Cormier pressed Hokit on whether the comments help or hurt his career, and Hokit answered with a straight business case, pointing at the purse Cormier got for fighting Jon Jones. “I don’t want anyone to lowball me,” Hokit told him. Hard to argue with a heavyweight who’s honest about the money.
Whether Hokit saves anything depends on what happens Saturday against a 6-foot-plus kickboxer who has spent his whole career making wrestlers look slow. Win, and an undefeated former NFL practice squad guy owns the heavyweight title barely three years into his pro career. Lose, and Cormier gets to say he asked first.
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