Josh Hokit has called his shot following news of Tom Aspinall’s relinquishing of the UFC heavyweight title.
Aspinall has been injured since last October when he suffered a brutal double eye poke from Ciryl Gane during their title fight. It was expected that the British champ would be able to return at the end of the year to rematch Gane, who has since won the interim heavyweight belt. But in a stunning announcement this morning (Mon. Sept 14, 2026), Aspinall announced he’d be giving up the belt.
Now
controversial No. 6 ranked heavyweight Josh Hokit is hoping he can step right in to a title fight against Gane.
“The fans deserve Me vs Gane. I’ll give Ciryl what he has coming,” Hokit wrote on X (formerly Twitter) two hours after Aspinall’s announcement. “If Alex can win 1 fight in my weight class, I’ll give it to him too, early ‘27. I’ll be the most active champ in the company.”
The heavyweight division could use some activity. This will be the third time the undisputed belt has been let go by the champ. Francis Ngannou finished his contract and left the UFC without losing, and then Jon Jones won the belt and did a whole lot of nothing with it. Tom Aspinall was supposed to get the division back on track, but that October 2025 eye injury ground everything to a halt.
Now we expect Ciryl Gane to be elevated from interim to undisputed champion. Will the UFC match him up against former middleweight and light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, who still insists it was illegal blows from Gane that cost him their fight at the White House? Or will Hokit capitalize on his recent successes to jump the line?
