Stipe Miocic isn't too fond of Josh Hokit's antics.
Hokit (10-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) challenges Ciryl Gane (14-2 MMA, 11-2 UFC) for the heavyweight title in the UFC 334 main event on Nov. 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York (Paramount+).
The outspoken heavyweight has backed up the talk after a Fight of the Year contender against Curtis Blaydes, and a first-round knockout of Derrick Lewis. While Miocic credit's the noise Hokit has made in the octagon – but not outside of it.
"He's definitely tough and he's getting better every fight, but he's still relatively new," Miocic said of Hokit in an interview with Casino.org. "He's not had as many fights as some of the other guys. However, you can definitely see that he's coming along well. He's a wrestler,
so he's always got that in his back pocket if something goes bad, but he hits hard and he comes forward. He just needs to remember to keep his hands up and not get cracked, but I mean, that's the heavyweight division. But he's getting it. We've all been there. We all start somewhere.
"We're not always great when we first get started, but I know he'll progress and get better. In terms of his character, I guess it's each to his own. It's not my style. That's not how I do things. It's a shtick. I don't really care about all that, but maybe if I'd have thought about that a bit more and acted that way during my fighting days, then I would have made more money, but I'm not really worried about it. When I was fighting, I was there to fight. I'm not there to promote. UFC's a promotional company, they can promote me if they want. Sometimes I just think he's a little too much."
Hokit has already drawn comparisons to Cain Velasquez from Chris Weidman, and even Gane's head coach, Fernand Lopez.
"I don't know if he's on Cain's level, but that's a good category to be put in," Miocic said. "Cain was a freak. He was an absolute animal. It's great to get praise like that. That's got to give him some motivation going into the Gane fight. He's just got to try to live up to those standards now. I think with Cain, he's a different breed, and I think it's a good category to be in. He must have something special about him though, he's just got to go beyond that."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Stipe Miocic before UFC 334: Josh Hokit's schtick is 'a little too much'
