Dana White says he may have thrown 'tough guys' at Josh Hokit over remarks he disliked

UFC CEO Dana White has said he may have handed Josh Hokit harder fights because he didn't like things Hokit said. White made the comment on The Jim Rome Show, and Rome previewed it on X on Wednesday, November 4, according to Sherdog. Hokit challenges Ciryl Gane for the heavyweight title at UFC 334 on November 14.

"I didn't like some of the things he said, so I might have threw some tough guys at him, and he passed every test, and here he is," White said, as quoted by Heavy.

What White said

White told Rome that Hokit had been overlooked "not only by the fans and media, but by me," according to MMA Junkie. He also said the Gane matchup "was the fight to make." He added, in a line Heavy carried:

"Like him or hate him, he fought his way to the top, and there's no denying that this guy deserves this title shot and belongs there."

White didn't tie the "tough guys" line to a specific remark. In the clip Rome posted, White himself brought up "what Josh Hokit said on the White House lawn that night," according to Sherdog. That was UFC Freedom 250 on June 14, when Hokit said in his post-fight interview that Michelle Obama "is a man." White told TIME afterwards that he hates "that kind of nonsense," Variety reported.

White's dislike isn't new. In remarks MMA Sucka reported on September 21, he said he didn't like "anything Josh Hokit says." Hokit's reply then was "Cmon, anything?"

On Thursday, Hokit posted a list of his four UFC opponents on X with a label for each, some of them mocking. He called Max Gimenis a "World Champ jiu jitsu" and Curtis Blaydes "top 5 for 8 years." MMA Junkie ran the post with the story, but Hokit didn't call it a reply to White. We found no other comment from Hokit, his team or the UFC.

Were they tough fights?

Hokit is 10-0, 4-0 in the UFC and ranked fifth at heavyweight, per Wikipedia. He stopped Gimenis and Denzel Freeman in the first round, outpointed Blaydes in April and stopped Derrick Lewis in the second round at Freedom 250.

The White House remark came after all four fights were made. The earlier flashpoint was UFC 324 in January, when Hokit said in his post-fight interview that Brittney Griner "is a man." White said, "I don't love it," according to Wikipedia. On February 24, the unranked Hokit was matched with fourth-ranked Blaydes.

MMA Sucka called that booking a gift at the time. But a top-five opponent was also by far his hardest test. The betting market still had Hokit as the favourite in all four fights. He closed at −435 against Gimenis, −263 against Freeman, −115 against Blaydes and −435 against Lewis, according to our numbers.

The Lewis fight came together late. By White's own account, President Trump asked why Lewis wasn't on the White House card. After Joe Rogan asked on air whether a spot was open, White sent matchmaker Mick Maynard to Hokit, who "was getting into an ambulance and said 'yes,'" White said, per Cageside Press.

We think White's line is part hindsight, given the odds and how the Lewis fight came about. But the Blaydes booking, a month after the UFC 324 interview, fits what White said. Backing Hokit at the close in all four would have made a 1.71-unit profit. He won four when the odds implied about 2.8.

UFC 334

Gane (14-2, 1 NC) won the interim belt by knocking out Alex Pereira in the second round on the same Freedom 250 card. Tom Aspinall vacated the title in September because of lingering eye injuries, according to MMA Sucka.

Gane is around −238 to −286 across 15 books, with Hokit at +185 to +212. With the margin removed, that gives Hokit about a 31% chance, barely changed since October 12, on our fight page.

The five-round main event is at Madison Square Garden in New York, with the main card at 9 p.m. ET on Paramount+. Kayla Harrison defends her women's bantamweight title against Amanda Nunes in the co-main, per Cageside Press.