Josh Hokit got his chance to make a name for himself, and he didn’t falter.
The MMA fighter from California burst onto the scene after a second-round TKO victory on last year’s season of “Dana White’s Contender Series.” After the fight, he debuted his ultra-American, no-nonsense alter-ego — “The Incredible Hok.”
Three months later, Hokit secured his first official UFC win, and his post-fight interview was very reminiscent of Chael Sonnen, a famous American trash-talker of bygone days. He spoke audaciously about his winning mentality and donned an American flag bandana on his head.
After his UFC 324 victory, Hokit kept up the shtick, shouting his rhymes into Joe Rogan’s microphone and exiting the cage before he could be questioned further.
At UFC 327, Hokit ramped up the persona, showcasing his alter-ego on the biggest stage of his young career by giving his opponent the finger nine times through three rounds.
Hokit’s bizarre media day interview and interactions with the headliners went viral during fight week, as his character slipped further from a modern-day Sonnen toward a lightsaber-wielding playwright.
At the weigh-ins, he flipped his personality, and it was arguably the most eye-catching move he’s made so far — a video of his timid weigh-in has 14 million views on X.
Though his character became Harvey Dent-esque over the week, Hokit was back to “The Incredible Hok” in front of the media, delivering more excitement than we’ve had at a press conference in a long time.
UFC press conferences have delivered some iconic moments in the sport’s history. They birthed the Sean Strickland and Israel Adesanya rivalry, Kevin Lee and Michael Chiesa’s heated exchange and a plethora of memorable Conor McGregor lines — but it has been a while since a UFC press conference sparked any excitement.
Hokit gave us a glimmer of hope that we may see exciting fight week buildups, though reporter for MMAFighting.com Damon Martin deemed him “the cringiest fighter on the roster” for his antics.
In the Octagon, however, Hokit immediately won fans over.
He entered the UFC touted as a wrestling prospect, but when faced against Curtis Blaydes, his hands were on full display.
Hokit rocked Blaydes — then ranked fifth in the world — in the fight’s first minute, though the savvy veteran worked his way back into the round, stinging Hokit with shots of his own.
It’s unusual for heavyweights to keep up such a frenetic pace over a single round, let alone an entire fight — but that’s what Hokit and Blaydes managed.
The two now hold nearly every single-fight strikes record for heavyweights, and their bout was named UFC’s Fight of the Night. It’s early, but I’d also book it to win Fight of 2026 come December.
For all of Hokit’s hijinks, he shut the critics up with the best fight heavyweight has arguably ever seen.
“The Incredible Hok” returned post-fight when his hand was raised — this time, with the crowd’s backing.
His night didn’t end there.
Apparently, President Donald Trump was concerned about the absence of his favorite fighter, Derrick Lewis, at UFC Freedom 250.
In the middle of the co-main event, Dana White announced on Instagram Live that Lewis agreed to join the card.
His opponent? Hokit, who agreed to fight Lewis as he climbed into an ambulance.
In less than a year, Hokit went from a cringe-inducing heavyweight prospect to a top-level fighter — with a slightly less cringe-inducing personality — set to fight in what White and Trump assured would be the biggest UFC event ever.
The politics of the event is a topic for another time, but what Hokit managed to accomplish in such a short time is remarkable, and hopefully his success will inspire other fighters to bring an ounce of personality to the table.
It doesn’t have to be Hokit-level gimmickry, but the alternative is a one-legged, personality-less robot destroying our favorite fighters.
Anything in between would suffice.