Israel Adesanya says he knew Josh Hokit was deliberately letting Derrick Lewis out of an armbar during their UFC Freedom 250 fight, describing the move as intentional showmanship rather than a technical error.
Adesanya made the comments on Demetrious Johnson’s YouTube channel, Mighty, during a post-event recap.
He sold it, I knew it! From the beginning, I was like ‘He can finish this’ and he starts screaming like the last four seconds and I was like ‘okay, he wants this to go to the second round.’ I knew he was playing, cause the arm was fully extended. I’m like, you know how to finish an armbar. Even I know how to finish an armbar. This guy, he’s just a fugazi.
Johnson agreed with the assessment.
I think, when Josh Hokit did that armbar against Derrick Lewis, I think he was just playing.
Hokit stopped Lewis by TKO at UFC Freedom 250 to improve to 4-0 in the UFC.