NEW YORK – Josh Hokit isn't sure if a fight with Tom Aspinall is in the foreseeable future.
Hokit (10-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) challenges heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane (14-2 MMA, 11-2 UFC) in Saturday's UFC 334 main event (Paramount+) at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) vacated his UFC heavyweight title after ongoing complications from eye surgery, which have kept him sidelined since last October. But Aspinall's recent business moves are what makes Hokit think they probably won't fight.
"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's arch-nemesis.
"To me, that's like you're just trying to get to the money, get a money fight 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."
Hokit says his activity is the reason for his fast rise, and he plans on continuing his busy schedule if he becomes champion.
"I think it would mean that Gotham is saved," Hokit said on winning the UFC belt. "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."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Josh Hokit: I don't think Tom Aspinall wants to come back
