{"id":41491,"date":"2026-11-05T23:59:12","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T23:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Dana-White-admits-he-may-have-made-Josh-Hokits-UFC-rise-harder-203504"},"modified":"2026-11-05T23:59:12","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T23:59:12","slug":"dana-white-admits-he-may-have-made-josh-hokits-ufc-rise-harder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/dana-white-admits-he-may-have-made-josh-hokits-ufc-rise-harder\/","title":{"rendered":"Dana White admits he may have made Josh Hokit’s UFC rise harder"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Dana
\nWhite<\/a> says he may have made Josh Hokit<\/a>\u2019s
\npath to an
\nUltimate Fighting Championship<\/a> heavyweight title shot more
\ndifficult because he disliked some of the unbeaten contender\u2019s
\ncomments.<\/p>\n

Hokit (10-0) is now set to challenge Ciryl Gane<\/a>
\n(14-2) for the heavyweight championship in the main event of
\nUFC
\n334<\/a> on Nov. 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York.<\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Dana White says Josh Hokit’s comments may have influenced his
\nmatchmaking before the Ciryl Gane title fight at UFC 334<\/h2>\n

Speaking on \u201cThe Jim Rome Show,\u201d the UFC CEO acknowledged that he
\nhad overlooked Hokit, who earned his title opportunity by beating
\nevery opponent put in front of him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHokit (vs. Gane) was the fight to make,\u201d White said. \u201cHokit has
\nbeen overlooked the entire time, not only by the fans and media,
\nbut by me. I didn’t like some of the things he said, so I might
\nhave threw some tough guys at him, and he passed every test, and
\nhere he is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Incredible Hok\u201d has won three fights in 2026. He defeated
\nDenzel
\nFreeman<\/a> before earning a unanimous decision over Curtis
\nBlaydes<\/a> at
\nUFC 327<\/a> in April. He then stopped former title challenger
\nDerrick
\nLewis<\/a> by second-round technical knockout at
\nUFC Freedom 250<\/a> in June.<\/p>\n

White said Hokit\u2019s performances left no doubt that he deserved the
\nopportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike him or hate him, he fought his way to the top, and there’s no
\ndenying that this guy deserves this title shot and belongs there,\u201d
\nWhite added.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

“If you don’t like what Josh Hokit said on
\nthe White House lawn that night, guess what? In two weeks, you get
\nto see him get punched in the face at Madison Square Garden, LIVE &
\nFREE on Paramount+.” @DanaWhite previews the Main Event at #UFC334
\nbetween Ciryl Gane and Josh Hokit. https:\/\/t.co\/Un5pfoHpZr<\/p>\n

\u2014 Jim Rome (@jimrome)
\nNovember 4, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/center> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dana White says he may have made Josh Hokit\u2019s path to an Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight title shot more difficult because he disliked some of the unbeaten contender\u2019s comments. Hokit (10-0) is now set to challenge Ciryl Gane (14-2) for the heavyweight championship in the main event of UFC 334 on Nov. 14 at Madison […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41492,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}