Josh Hokit has taken aim at what he sees as widespread hypocrisy inside the UFC, pointing to Paddy Pimblett’s shifting treatment of Conor McGregor as evidence that respect in the sport is handed out only when it suits the fighter. The undefeated heavyweight aired his frustration on social media after Pimblett showed little sympathy for McGregor when the Irishman’s UFC 329 return ended in a devastating knee injury.
Hokit did not soften the message. Reacting to the fallout, he framed the entire fighter community as performative when it comes to praising the sport’s biggest names.
Fighters are the most two faced people in the world… Nothing but respect and bow downs to one another when it’s convenient… And you wonder why I do what I do,” Hokit wrote on X (Josh Hokit’s post).
Pimblett’s Before-And-After On McGregor
The contrast Hokit is calling out played out over a single fight week. Throughout the buildup, Pimblett candidly talked about being a longtime McGregor admirer and treated sharing a card with him as an honor.
Pimblett then delivered on his end, choking Benoit Saint-Denis unconscious in under a minute to open a dominant night for himself.
But once McGregor’s comeback collapsed, “The Baddy” reacted to the injury without visible sympathy and pivoted to positioning himself as the new face of the promotion.
That whiplash is the target of Hokit’s criticism. To him, publicly crowning a legend one day and clowning him the next is exactly the conditional respect he refuses to take part in.
Pimblett did appear to reverse course at the post-fight press conference, saying he felt for McGregor.
It was sad to see but that’s the thing with this sport, you’ve got to stay consistent, you’ve got to keep fighting and I think where he hasn’t fought in so long, his body couldn’t keep up with it,” Pimblett said. “Coming out and throwing a crazy kick like that first thing… I feel bad for him he’s put so much into coming back… Got to feel for him.
Hokit is not throwing stones from the outside of the division. “The Incredible Hok” pushed his professional record to 10-0 with a second-round TKO of Derrick Lewis at UFC Freedom 250 on June 14, 2026, his fourth straight win inside the promotion.
Every one of his 10 victories has come by stoppage, split between six knockouts and three submissions, with none of his fights reaching the scorecards.
That finishing rate has pushed him up the independent ladder, with FightMatrix now listing him at No. 8 among heavyweights, though official UFC rankings behind champion Tom Aspinall have yet to include him.
