Josh Hokit Roasts Ciryl Gane and His Mother: "We're at War" Ahead of UFC 334

In a wild interview with Ariel Helwani hours before the UFC 334 face-off, the undefeated heavyweight challenger promised to pressure Ciryl Gane, dismissed Tom Aspinall, answered Dana White — and said there is no line once the contract is signed.

Josh Hokit is done being polite. Four days before he challenges Ciryl Gane for the undisputed heavyweight title at UFC 334, the undefeated American sat down with Ariel Helwani in New York and turned the interview into a warning.

Hokit fights Gane in the main event on Saturday, November 14, at Madison Square Garden. Gane defends the undisputed belt for the first time since Tom Aspinall vacated the title in September. Hokit, 28, is 10-0 with six knockouts, three submissions and one decision, and 4-0 in the UFC.

The challenger has spent fight week needling the champion, and on Helwani's show he went further than ever — including Gane's mother.

"He mentioned his mom. You saw that clip," Helwani said. Hokit did not back down. "F*** him and his mom," he said. "It is what it is."

Hokit framed the fight as something older than sport. "We're at war. He signed the contract. We're at war. And so, anything goes," he said. Asked if there is a line, he answered: "No line."

He has a nickname for the champion, too. Hokit calls Gane "Buff Teddy Graham," and he said that if he wins on Saturday, Gane's family becomes his people — the same way Gane would take everything from him if he lost. "I still have the primal sense of that mentality," Hokit said. "And it is what it is."

On the fight itself, Hokit promised pressure from the first bell. "I'm going to pressure him," he said. "I'll get my hands on him one way or the other and then [...] wear him out. Wear him out. Make him look like any other sloppy heavyweight."

He laid out his rules of engagement as well. "If he pokes my eye, I'm going to hit him in the back of the head," Hokit said, before running through an escalation — a low blow for a low blow, and worse — and then laughing it off as mentality, not a plan. "Whether that actually happens or not, that obviously won't happen," he said.

Dana White's test

Helwani raised Dana White's interview with Jim Rome, in which the UFC CEO admitted he gave Hokit hard fights on purpose. "I got to be honest, [I] didn't like a lot of the things that he said. So, you know, I gave him a few tough fights to see if he's really about it, if he's really that guy. And he passed and now here he is," White said, as Helwani relayed it.

Hokit said he saw the interview, and he compared his rise to Alex Pereira's — both men going from their UFC debuts to headlining Madison Square Garden in just over a year. "You put my back against the wall," he said. "I'll find a way every single time."

His path backs that up. Hokit made his UFC debut on November 8 last year — 367 days ago, as Helwani put it — and has since stopped Denzel Freeman and Derrick Lewis and outpointed Curtis Blaydes, the division's longtime gatekeeper. He said he has four performance bonuses in four UFC fights.

Aspinall dismissed

Hokit also dismissed the man whose belt Gane now holds. He claimed Tom Aspinall signed with boxing promoter Eddie Hearn and is waiting out his UFC deal for a boxing payday — a claim Helwani pushed back on, noting Aspinall still has fights left on his contract.

Asked who he would call out if he wins on Saturday, Hokit said he has a name in mind — a heavyweight, but not Aspinall and not Alexander Volkov. "I do have a name in mind," he said. When Helwani pressed him to say it, Hokit answered: "No."

The dorm, the Lambo and the diss track

For all the noise, Hokit still sleeps in a dorm room at Jackson-Wink MMA in Albuquerque during camp — a room he has kept for two years, with his paintings on the wall and, as he put it, a cockroach on the floor and a crackhead outside keeping him up. "It keeps you humble," he said.

He has since bought a house in central California, near Bakersfield, and a matte-black Lamborghini to go with his matte-black GMC Tahoe. He said he has a seven-figure sponsorship deal.

Hokit also talked about his "MSG Freestyle" diss track, which he spent about a month writing and which takes aim at Gane, Jon Jones and Aspinall. He used to record in a walk-in closet at Fresno State with his running-back friends. He will not, however, walk out to it on Saturday. "I want my walk out to be special," he said.

He walked on as a linebacker at Fresno State, got one running-back play against Hawaii when every running back was hurt, carried 18 times for 99 yards on the same inside-zone play, and earned a scholarship. He had committed to Drexel for wrestling as a high school sophomore, before Fresno State brought its wrestling program back.

Robert Whittaker said the fight would be one-sided for Gane. Hokit answered him with a freestyle.

Hokit heads to the face-off with Gane later on Tuesday. He believes the moment is his. "I believe this is my moment," he said.