Josh Hokit to Ilia Topuria: 'Different day and age, you're extinct'
Hokit said a lighter champion would not talk to a heavyweight like that in another era, and called Ciryl Gane a coward who cheats when he is scared.
Josh Hokit has told Ilia Topuria that in another era he would be "extinct" for talking down to a heavyweight.
"Because it's like, you see people like Ilia Topuria talking sh*t to me, and it's like, I'm a heavyweight. And now I'm about to be heavyweight champion. It's like, what is a 145-pound champion talking to a heavyweight like that?" Hokit said on The Ariel Helwani Show on Monday. "Different day and age, you're extinct... I wipe you off the face of the earth. But it's like, now we're a different day and age. You get to hide behind a belt. I guess you could be, you know, quote-unquote tough guy, but don't get that sh*t twisted... The heavyweight is the baddest man on the planet... So I'm trying to bring that mentality back."
Topuria is the former UFC featherweight champion and is ranked No. 1 at lightweight in the UFC's rankings.
Asked whether his opponent, Ciryl Gane, is a dirty fighter, Hokit said: "Sh*t, I just think he's a coward, gang... He's just coward and scared. He wants to get out of that octagon so badly and so quickly that he's willing to just cheat." Asked if he expects it in their fight, he said: "He could try... But I got the titanium eyes... That's why they booked me... He pokes me in the eye, sh*t, fingers break."
Hokit challenges Gane for the undisputed heavyweight title at UFC 334 at Madison Square Garden on 14 November. In the same interview he called Tom Aspinall's eye injury fake: Hokit on Aspinall and Gane.
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Reported by the Combat Sports UK desk. Times are UK and Irish time, and we update the report when the facts change. How we work.