Josh Hokit is the new bad guy

Josh Hokit is the new bad guy. UFC.com published the video on November 6, and the line on the page is that it takes a certain sort of person to play the bad guy, and Hokit is that sort of person.

He goes for the heavyweight title against Ciryl Gane on Saturday, November 14, in the main event of UFC 334 at Madison Square Garden in New York, which the card story books, at 265 pounds (120 kg), and the event page lists Hokit at No. 4.

The UFC header lists Hokit at 28 and 10-0, with six knockouts, three submissions, and six first-round finishes, and a fighter-facts line still says 8-0 as a pro and puts the UFC debut in November 2026. The bout list puts that debut on November 8, 2025, when Hokit stopped Max Gimenis with strikes at 0:56 of the first round, and the three submissions are a rear-naked choke, an armbar, and an arm-triangle. The win chart splits 60 percent knockouts, 10 percent decisions, and 30 percent submissions.

Hokit stopped Derrick Lewis with strikes at 4:09 of the second round at UFC Freedom 250 on June 14, 2026, beat Curtis Blaydes by unanimous decision at 5:00 of the third round at UFC 327 on April 11, and stopped Denzel Freeman with strikes at 4:59 of the first round at UFC 324 on January 24. Dana White’s Contender Series added a stoppage of Guilherme Uriel with strikes at 1:06 of the second round on August 19, 2025, and the facts line says he went 5-0 in 2025, four knockouts and one submission, in 12 minutes and 37 seconds, with two second-round finishes and one third-round finish on the career.

Bakersfield, California, is his birthplace. Hokit is 73 inches (185 cm) and 240 pounds (109 kg), with a 73.5-inch (187 cm) reach and a 43-inch (109 cm) leg reach, and he trains at Jackson Wink MMA Academy in New Mexico. The UFC lists wrestling. He turned pro in October 2023, a national wrestling title came at age six, Clovis High School gave him the California state title in 2016, three seasons at Fresno State produced All-American honors in his junior year, and he wrestled Bo Nickal at the NCAA championships in 2019. The same page lists a running-back career at Fresno State, 1,700 yards and 17 touchdowns, the 2020 and 2021 seasons on the San Francisco 49ers’ practice squad, which the Q&A calls two years in the NFL and the job before he fought, and a degree in political science. The alter ego on the page is The Incredible Hok.

Hokit told the UFC he started training three years ago because beating people up for money is fun, that the toughest fight is himself, and that Joshua Van is his favorite fighter. Kenny Powers is who he would like to meet, and Kill Tony is what he watches when he is not training.

Hokit lands 9.29 significant strikes per minute and absorbs 5.28, at 65 percent accuracy, 336 of 519, and he defends 49 percent of strikes. Standing accounts for 211 of them (63 percent), the clinch 52 (15 percent), and the ground 73 (22 percent), one takedown has landed in 19 attempts at the 5 percent on the chart, he averages 3.73 takedowns per 15 minutes, defends 78 percent of takedowns, averages 0.41 submission attempts and 1.24 knockdowns per 15 minutes, and the average fight time is 7 minutes and 14 seconds.

Kayla Harrison defends the women’s bantamweight title against Amanda Nunes in the co-main, Caio Borralho, ranked No. 5 at middleweight, meets Yousri Belgaroui, Uroš Medić, ranked No. 12 at welterweight, meets Kevin Holland, ranked No. 15, and Bilal Hasan meets Luis Gurule at flyweight. The prelims are Stephen Thompson against Charles Radtke, Drew Dober against Chris Duncan, Jim Miller against Terrance McKinney, and Donte Johnson against Cesar Almeida. The early prelims are Jared Gordon against Melquizael Costa, Macy Chiasson against Bia Mesquita, Adrian Yanez against Juan Diaz, and Evan Elder against Samuel Sanches. The ceremonial weigh-in is Friday, November 13, at the Infosys Theater at Madison Square Garden.