Josh Hokit says Ciryl Gane hides behind his athleticism, and he plans to make the champion pay for it when they meet in the UFC 334 main event on November 14 at Madison Square Garden.
Speaking on Michael Bisping’s Believe You Me podcast, Hokit argued that the athletic gap many fans point to will not decide the heavyweight title fight. In his view, it comes down to preparation and will.
I think our athleticism is going to cancel out and it’s going to be tactics versus tactics, skill versus skill, heart versus heart. And I’m better in all three of those.
His plan is pressure, and he says it ends with Gane folding.
I’m going to put that pressure on him. He’s going to overextend. I’m going to make him pay. I’m going to break him.
Hokit enters unbeaten at 10-0 and challenges Gane, who was elevated to undisputed champion after Tom Aspinall vacated the belt. Hokit earned his UFC contract on Dana White’s Contender Series in August 2025, and he says he saw the title shot coming. “After the Contender Series, you heard me say I’ll be fighting for the title within two years,” he said.
Hokit leans on his wrestling background
If the fight turns into a grind, Hokit believes his wrestling gives him a trump card.
You always have the upper hand when you’re a wrestler. And so he’s always going to be thinking about it.
Bisping, who hosts the podcast, said on his own YouTube channel that Hokit has to wrestle Gane because of how well the champion moves on the feet. He also said Hokit leaves openings when he charges forward, which a sharp counter striker can exploit. Former UFC champion Chris Weidman has picked Hokit, arguing that Gane’s light-footed style will drain him against a heavyweight who pressures non-stop.
Hokit also told a story from the White House. He said he pressed Gane about basketball in the locker room and came out ahead.
I pressed him about basketball. I backed him down, right? And I did my little fadeaway.
His conclusion: “They say you’re athletic. I’ll beat you in any sport.”
Aspinall, Steveson, Pereira and Cormier get the same treatment
Hokit took aim at Aspinall’s reaction to the eye poke from Gane at UFC 321. That fight was ruled a no contest after Aspinall told the doctor he could not see and was unable to continue once the five-minute recovery window ended.
When you get poked in the eye and it’s like immediately, ‘I can’t see.’ Take five minutes. He wasn’t even trying.
Hokit then told Bisping, “At least you were trying.” Aspinall has not fought since and vacated the title after reinjuring his right eye in training for a rematch with Gane. Bisping has defended Aspinall publicly over the injury, while Gane has called Aspinall mentally fragile for how he handled it.
Hokit also weighed in on Gable Steveson’s 12-second knockout loss at UFC 331, saying, “You’ll never catch me with a left hook like that. I’m out of the way.” He had already criticized Steveson’s training under Jon Jones, as covered in his earlier comments on Steveson. Alex Pereira did not escape either, with Hokit mocking his walkout persona as witchcraft.
Daniel Cormier called Hokit’s gimmick “lame as f*ck” in June, after Hokit’s post-fight remarks about Michelle Obama at UFC Freedom 250. Hokit pushed back on the podcast, defending his hustle and saying of Cormier, “We’re friends. I thought we were.”
As for the pressure of an accelerated path to a title shot, Hokit says it does not register. “People say it’s a lot of pressure… To me, it’s like feathers.”
