Josh Hokit mocked Gable Steveson following his UFC 331 loss.
Steveson (4-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) was knocked out in a shocking upset loss to Sean Sharaf less than two weeks ago at UFC 331. The Olympic gold medalist had a rough week after being booed by the fans leading up to the fight.
Hokit (10-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC), who also trains at Jackson Wink, fired back at Steveson for belittling his wrestling credentials in the past. Hokit questioned Steveson's training with his mentor Jon Jones.
"That boy Raple Sleepeson, we talking about that guy? That boy Raple Sleepeson, real quick," Hokit said on "The Ariel Helwani Show." "Sh*t, he must have watched my fights and been like, 'This sh*t's going to be easy.' This sh*t ain't sweet. This is a whole different game. He wants
to talk about my wrestling and all that other sh*t. This ain't wrestling, and he had to learn that the hard way. I heard he's not practicing properly, and that's due to Jon Jones.
"I heard he's not even sparring and sh*t. What we doing, gang? This is a whole different sport. You've got to start from ground zero. It's hard for people like that that had that success to start from the building blocks again. He had to learn the hard way. We'll see what he's made out of because adversity is here. This is where the mental toughness starts, and see if he's truly about it, if he truly wants to be good in this game."
Hokit took issue with Steveson's attitude while walking out of the cage before the outcome was read.
"We'll see if he's doing it for the right reasons," Hokit said. "If he's just doing it for the clout and people talking about him and stuff like that. Even him walking out the cage. He's walking out the cage and smiling, talking to people. Sh*t, if I lose, and if I happen to walk outside the cage, it's like f*ck everybody. That's just how I feel as a competitor. He's over there smiling and still trying to uphold this fake image."
Despite not having vast octagon experience himself, Hokit has skyrocketed to title contention after outlasting Curtis Blaydes in a Fight of the Year contender and knocking out Derrick Lewis. He challenges Ciryl Gane for the heavyweight title in the UFC 334 main event on Nov. 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Josh Hokit takes aim at Jon Jones for Gable Steveson's UFC 331 loss
