Josh Hokit Stole Joe Rogan's Mic, Beat Curtis Blaydes, and Is the Most Polarizing Heavyweight in the UFC

The man they call "The Incredible Hok" stole Joe Rogan's microphone during fight week, beat Curtis Blaydes on Saturday night, and is somehow still the most controversial heavyweight in the UFC right now. Let me tell you who Josh Hokit actually is because the backstory on this dude is absolutely insane.

If you watched UFC 327 on Saturday and you saw Josh Hokit beat Curtis Blaydes you might be sitting there asking the same question I was asking. Who is this guy? Where did he come from? How is a 9-0 heavyweight with three UFC wins in like five months somehow already the most polarizing dude in the division?

The Kid From Wasco

Joshua Seth Hokit was born November 12, 1997 in Bakersfield, California. He grew up in Wasco, which is a tiny agricultural town in the San Joaquin Valley with under 30,000 people whose main claim to fame is growing roses. Not exactly the kind of place that produces UFC heavyweights.

His family moved to Clovis, a Fresno suburb, when he was in high school so he could train at a better wrestling room. And that's where the multi sport monster started showing up. As a senior at Clovis High he was ranked #3 in the country in wrestling AND had 125 tackles as a linebacker AND rushed for 820 yards with 8 touchdowns on offense. The Fresno Bee named him Athlete of the Year.

Drexel offered him a wrestling scholarship to come to Philadelphia. He accepted. Then he found out Drexel didn't have a football team. So he turned down a fully guaranteed wrestling scholarship and walked on at Fresno State with literally nothing promised to him because he refused to give up either sport.

Who does that? Like, who turns down free college to walk on somewhere else just because they want to play two sports? Apparently Hokit does. That's the type of energy he's got.

The Two Sport Problem at Fresno State

This is the part I want you to really sit with. Hokit played FIFTY football games at Fresno State across four years. Over 1,200 rushing yards. 17 total touchdowns. One game he threw a 65 yard touchdown pass because the man can apparently do everything.

WHILE doing that, he wrestled at heavyweight and made it to the NCAA Championships TWICE. Earned All American honors twice. And he was the FIRST Fresno State wrestler to make All American in over 15 years. The program had been bringing back wrestling and he was the guy they built it around.

Daniel Cormier actually mentioned this on the UFC 327 weigh in show. The only comparable two sport athlete Fresno State ever had was Lorenzo Neal, the NFL fullback who also wrestled. But Cormier and Chris Weidman both pointed out that Neal committed more of his schedule to wrestling. Hokit was a FOOTBALL player first, a wrestler second, and STILL hit the All American podium twice.

You know how hard that is? Top tier Division I wrestlers train year round from childhood and treat the sport like a religion. Hokit was cramming four months of wrestling into two months because football took up the rest of the year. And he was beating guys who wrestled full time.

That's just wild.

The 49ers Years and the "Snowflake NFL" Exit

Hokit went undrafted in the 2020 NFL Draft. The San Francisco 49ers signed him as a free agent and stuck him on the practice squad. He bounced between the active roster, the practice squad, and the COVID reserve list for two years. Got cut. Re signed. Got cut again. Re signed again. Briefly signed with the Cardinals in 2022. The classic fringe NFL grind.

By 2023 he was done. And the way he left the NFL is honestly the part of his story that tells you exactly who he is.

He went on Ariel Helwani's show after getting his UFC contract and explained it. The vaccine mandate was the final straw. He said the NFL "didn't respect the people's background" and "took some of our freedom away." Then on Dana White's Contender Series after getting his UFC deal he hit them with the line that went viral: "I left the liberal, snowflake NFL to do a real man's sport in a real man's promotion."

I'm not gonna sit here and tell you how to feel about that quote. But strategically? That line did what every fighter trying to build a brand wants their words to do. It got people talking. Half the MMA world loved it. The other half called him cringe. Either way, everyone knew his name within 24 hours.

That's the Hokit playbook in a nutshell. Say something nobody else is gonna say, take the heat, win the next fight, repeat.

The Run That Got Him Here

Three fights in LFA. All wins. Then Dana White's Contender Series in August 2025 against Guilherme Uriel. TKO in round two. UFC contract signed.

His UFC debut was Max Gimenis at UFC Fight Night 264 in November 2025. First round TKO. Performance of the Night bonus.

Next up was Denzel Freeman at UFC 324 in January. First round TKO again. Another $100K Performance of the Night bonus. After that one he grabbed the mic, cut a WWE style promo, and called out Valter Walker like he was Hulk Hogan in the late 80s.

And then Saturday night at UFC 327. Curtis Blaydes. The #5 ranked heavyweight. A guy who has fought for the interim title before. A guy who has been in there with Francis Ngannou and Tom Aspinall and Jailton Almeida. Blaydes weighed in at 261 pounds. Hokit weighed 233. Hokit was giving up 28 pounds and decades of UFC experience to a top contender in just his fourth UFC fight.

Hokit beat him. 9-0 as a pro. Every single win has come inside the distance. EVERY one bro. He has not gone to a decision in his entire professional career. Eight finishes in eight fights heading into Saturday and now nine in nine.

The Don Vato Problem and the Mic Stealing

Okay so here's where it gets weird. Hokit has this character he does called "Don Vato" where he affects a stereotypical Mexican American gangster accent and tells jokes. He's a white kid from Wasco doing a bit. The MMA media has called him out on it. Dana White has had to address some of his post fight quotes, including one after his UFC 324 win that the UFC Asia social media team straight up DELETED off X because of how bad it was.

Dana said about it: "I heard about it. I didn't see it. I don't love it." That's about as soft a Dana statement as you'll ever get from him about a fighter on his own roster.

Then fight week for UFC 327 happened and Hokit decided to take it up a notch. At the final faceoff before the Blaydes fight he literally STOLE Joe Rogan's microphone during the press conference. Joe Rogan. The most famous voice in MMA. The man whose podcast gets more downloads than most countries get tourists. Hokit just walked over and took the mic out of his hands like it was nothing.

And honestly? that's actually pretty funny lol. But it tells you exactly who Hokit thinks he is. And the wild part is the wins keep coming so the UFC keeps giving him a longer leash.

He trains at Jackson Wink in Albuquerque. Same gym Jon Jones came up at. He's reportedly sparred with Jones a few times, though nobody really knows how those rounds went and Hokit has been smart enough not to claim he won them. The man is clearly working with elite coaching and elite training partners and the results are showing up in the cage.

Real Talk on Where This Goes

I'm gonna level with you. The Hokit thing is complicated and I don't think there's a clean way to talk about it.

The fighter? He's legit. Two sport college All American, NFL pedigree, elite wrestling base, finishes everybody he's ever fought, just beat a top 5 heavyweight, trains at one of the best gyms in the world. From a pure athlete perspective, the man is one of the most legitimate heavyweight prospects to come into the UFC in the last decade. The skill set is real. The wins are real. You can't fake 9-0 with all finishes.

The persona? That's where it gets messy. The "snowflake NFL" stuff is one thing. The Don Vato character and the post fight quotes that the UFC has had to delete are another thing entirely. Fighters say controversial stuff all the time. Strickland built a whole career on it. But there's a difference between being unfiltered and being something else, and Hokit has danced on that line more than once.

I'll say this honestly though. I'm gonna keep watching because the fights are incredible. I think the man is funny as shit. He finishes everybody. He's already inside the heavyweight rankings after Saturday and he's gonna get a top 10 opponent next. Maybe top 5. The trajectory is undeniable. Whether the heat from his persona burns him out before the talent peaks is the question nobody can answer yet.

But the fact that we're even having this conversation about a guy who was on the 49ers practice squad three years ago should tell you everything about how fast he's moving. Welcome to The Incredible Hok era. Whether you like it or not, he's not going anywhere.

Thanks for riding with CageLore. Stay locked in!

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Josh Hokit?

Josh Hokit is an American UFC heavyweight from Wasco, California. He's a former Fresno State two sport athlete who was a two time NCAA wrestling All American AND played football for the Bulldogs. He spent two years on the San Francisco 49ers practice squad before quitting the NFL in 2023 to pursue MMA. He's now 9-0 as a professional with all wins coming by finish.

What was Josh Hokit's NFL career?

Hokit went undrafted in the 2020 NFL Draft and signed with the San Francisco 49ers as an undrafted free agent. He spent two seasons bouncing between the active roster, practice squad, and COVID reserve list. He briefly signed with the Arizona Cardinals in 2022 before walking away from football entirely.

Why did Josh Hokit leave the NFL?

Hokit has said publicly that the COVID vaccine mandate was the final straw. He told Ariel Helwani the NFL "took some of our freedom away" and famously said on Dana White's Contender Series that he left "the liberal, snowflake NFL to do a real man's sport in a real man's promotion."

Did Josh Hokit beat Curtis Blaydes?

Yes. Hokit defeated Curtis Blaydes at UFC 327 on April 11, 2026 in Miami. Blaydes was the #5 ranked UFC heavyweight at the time of the fight. It was Hokit's biggest win to date and his fourth UFC victory.

What is Josh Hokit's nickname?

Hokit goes by "The Incredible Hok," a play on the Incredible Hulk that reportedly originated in the 49ers locker room. He also performs a controversial character called "Don Vato" using a stereotypical Mexican American gangster accent.

Where does Josh Hokit train?

Hokit trains at Jackson Wink MMA Academy in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The same gym that helped develop Jon Jones into the UFC heavyweight champion. He has reportedly sparred with Jones during his time at the gym.