Josh Hokit could walk out of UFC 334 as undisputed heavyweight champion, which could line him up for a marquee matchup with Tom Aspinall. Assuming Aspinall ever steps into the octagon again.
When Hokit and Ciryl Gane face off in Saturday’s main event at Madison Square Garden in New York, it will have been over a year since Aspinall’s disastrous title defense against Gane. That fight ended in a no-contest due to Gane accidentally poking Aspinall’s eyes, leaving Aspinall with an ongoing recovery from
injury that has kept him sidelined indefinitely.
In Aspinall’s absence, Gane defeated Alex Pereira at UFC White House to claim an interim title and was later promoted to undisputed champion. Hokit was asked whether he expects to fight Aspinall in the near future if he defeats Gane at UFC 334.
“When I’m champion, anybody can get a fight,” Hokit said at Wednesday’s media day. “Anybody’s going to be able to get a fight. I’m not going to hold the belt and be sidelined. Anybody can get it. We’ll see if Aspinall comes back, and we’ll see.
“I don’t think he wants to come back. You signed with Eddie Hearn, Dana [White’s] archnemesis. To me, that’s like you’re just trying to get to the money, get a money fight in in boxing. So we’ll see if they give him a price to work with in the UFC, but, I mean, Tom Aspinall wearing glasses, I’m whooping asses, entertaining the masses, in the meantime. So yeah, if it makes sense, anybody can get it.”
The undefeated Hokit has had an unexpected rise to the top. This time last year, in the aftermath of the Aspinall-Gane debacle, Hokit was preparing to make his UFC debut against Max Gimenis. Four fights and four wins later, including a Fight of the Year contender performance against Curtis Blaydes, Hokit has the chance to make history.
In his eyes, claiming the heavyweight title isn’t only what’s best for him, it’s what best for business in a division that has lost its luster in recent years.
“I think it would mean that Gotham is saved,” Hokit said. “The heavyweight division is saved. The future is born, the past will be put in a casket. That’s what I think. I don’t know if the heavyweight division has been cursed for these amount of years, but they haven’t had an active champion in a while, and so I’m here to give them that.”
Hokit’s notoriety has been boosted by his off-color antics in his post-fight interviews and outside of the cage. After he defeated Derrick Lewis at UFC White House, he made an offensive comment about former First Lady Michelle Obama that had even UFC CEO Dana White fuming.
Most importantly, Hokit has delivered when it’s time to fight, and he’s confident that he’s put in the work to deserve his golden opportunity.
“I feel like everything, every situation in everyone’s life is preparing them for a moment that hasn’t happened yet,” Hokit said. “This is my moment, I think everything I’ve been through in my life has prepped me for this situation. I’ve been wrestling since I was four, playing football since I was seven, and so just the roller-coaster journey, the ups and downs, so people just see how quickly I got to the title, but they haven’t seen the whole process, they just see the four fights.”
