Is there anyone that Josh Hokit won’t flip off? Apparently not, based on his performance at UFC 334. The UFC heavyweight came into his title fight at Madison Square Garden against Ciryl Gane full of piss and vinegar, throwing the middle finger at Gane, the crowd, and even Bruce Buffer.
Now we’re getting to hear what Buffer thought of that moment, and how close he came to physically responding to Hokit’s disrespect.
“The show is not about me, folks, bottom line,” the UFC announcer said on a post-UFC
334 Q&A video with Jon Anik. “I’m there to do my job, take the fighters and the fans beyond the level of excitement they’re at to enhance that moment and take it to the next level. And I do that for Josh Hokit. I’ll do that for Ciryl Gane. I do it for everybody because God bless the female and male warriors, they put in their blood, sweat, and tears, and lives on the line for our entertainment.”
Buffer had previously said he wasn’t a fan of Hokit and his outside-the-cage antics, which prompted Hokit to fire back at Buffer. That led Buffer to predict exactly what Hokit would do when he was introducing the main event at UFC 334.
“I told you about a month ago,” Buffer said. “Hokit came out and made a comment because he got his panties in a bunch over a little comment that I made. Right? You know, come on. Sticks and stones may break my bones. He’s given the finger to the fighters. He’s always putting his finger out there … And I said, Jon, I guarantee you when I announce him, he’s gonna stick his finger in my face and give me the finger, and I’m gonna slap it away.”
“And then DC said, ‘Buff, don’t do that.’ And I said, ‘Okay, DC. That’s fine. That’s okay. But I can only take so much.’ It’ll be great TV no matter what happens.”
“But you know how I am, I’ll go down in a pool of blood if I have to in a situation because it’s just about being a man,” Buffer concluded. “ But in that case, I am there to, again, enhance his moment. So okay. He had his moment. He stuck his finger in my face. I just smiled back.”
Buffer clearly wasn’t too pleased when Hokit flipped the bird at him, but he kept things professional … this time.
