Josh Hokit has big plans for his next couple of fights, but while many fans have been keen to see him face Alex Pereira next, he is instead targeting interim champion Ciryl Gane first.
“Give me Gane at MSG. Give Alex a winnable fight on the card,” Hokit suggested on social media. “I’ll turn right back around and smash Alex in Jan 2027 in LV. Move on from Tom. He cleared the division and nobody gives a shit. We’re in the entertainment business. Give UFC a F’ing story to tell you dumbasses!”
In a separate post Hokit went into more detail about why he wants to let Pereira fight someone else next, while suggesting that the two could lock horns for the symbolic ‘BMF’ title.
“Can we let Alex get a little bit of his aura back first?” Hokit wrote. “I was teeing him up to be my Jose Aldo-Conor moment and he went out and became Ciryl Gane’s easiest win in 5 years. But since UFC was about to make Alex the GOAT if he won, if he & I are next it should be for the BMF.”
The unbeaten 28-year-old Hokit has quickly risen up the heavyweight pecking order after racking up four wins in a row, including a barnburning decision win against Curtis Blaydes back in April, followed by a 2nd round TKO finish of Derrick Lewis at the one-of-a-kind UFC: White House event in June.
However, it seems unlikely that the UFC will let him fight Gane next as the interim champ is destined to go up against Tom Aspinall.
The Pereira fight has real potential though as there was already bad blood between them, and ‘Poatan’s’ coach Glover Teixeira has expressed his desire to see that score settled, believing that it’s a good route for the former 185lb and 205lb champ to shake off his TKO loss to Gane.
“This guy is talking a lot of s**t,” Teixeira said of Hokit on The Ariel Helwani Show this week. “Go over there and knock his ass out and get back to the top.”
