Josh Hokit has parlayed his shtick and a chaotic fight style to earn a UFC heavyweight title shot at Madison Square Garden. On November 24 he’s scheduled to face Ciryl Gane in the main event of UFC 334. This would be only Hokit’s sixth trip to the Octagon and eleventh pro fight.
The 28-year-old former NFL practice squad member has won all but one of his bouts via stoppage. The exception was his wild brawl with Curtis Blaydes, which might be one of the most entertaining heavyweight bouts of all time.
That fight, and victory, earned him a spot on the White House lawn where he beat-up and exhausted Donald Trump’s favorite fighter.
Those accomplishments alone wouldn’t usually generate a title shot. But Hokit’s style, both inside and outside the cage, has catapulted him into this spot. That outside-the-cage style, which seems heavily focus-grouped, combines the antics of Chael Sonnen, Conor McGregor and Colby Covington, but isn’t delivered with any of the charm of wit of a Sonnen or belief and passion of a McGregor. His delivery is comparable to Covington, but Hokit has managed to utter things more loathsome than even Chaos could bring himself to say.
Whatever Hokit is doing is working for him, though (even if the boss doesn’t like it).
There’s a chance Hokit’s rise comes to a halt at UFC 334, though, against the -270 favorite Gane.
One keen onlooker on all of this is Alexander Volkov. He’s sitting at second in the media heavyweight rankings (and fourth in the Zuckerberg rankings). If he wins his next fight, he might be the next man up after Gane and Hokit throw down in November.
Volkov sat down, literally, with Helen Yee for a wide-ranging interview recently. With Yee he discussed his liking of SlipKnot, his various hair styles, Sergei Pavlovich vs. Alex Pereira and, of course, the current state of the UFC heavyweight division.
When talking about Gane vs. Hokit ‘Big Volk’ said he’d have a much easier time fighting Hokit to claim the elusive UFC heavyweight title.
“For me, it will be the easiest fight ever, easier title shot,” Volkov said. “As I see my fight with Josh Hokit, sorry, Josh Hokit, I don’t want to say something bad about you. You are a nice guy. So, this is the easy way, but I don’t know what will really happen, but we should probably bet on Gane.”
Volkov might be hoping Gane wins, though. That might help build his case for the next title shot, due to the history he has with the Frenchman. Volkov fought Gane in 2024 and lost by split decision. However, that decision was one of the biggest, and most high profile, robberies we’ve seen on the scorecards in recent years.
UFC President Dana White famously told Volkov they would “make it up” to him as he left the cage. If that offer included a title shot, it hasn’t materialized yet.
Since that travesty, where Volkov fought a really excellent fight, he’s beaten Jailton Almeida and Waldo Cortes-Acosta. The Almeida win wasn’t scored very well, either, to be fair.
The 51-fight veteran is currently booked to fight Rivzan Kuniev on October 24. If he loses that he’ll end up throwing away his chances to get a title shot anytime soon. If he beats his fellow Russian, though, then there’s a good chance he either gets an opportunity to avenge his Gane ‘loss’ or gets to fight the ‘nice guy’ Hokit.
