Josh Hokit Fires Back at Volkov, Floats a Light Heavyweight Jump

Josh Hokit isn't interested in the Alexander Volkov talk, and he isn't shy about saying why. The unbeaten No. 4-ranked heavyweight, 10-0 with six knockouts and three submissions, brushed off Volkov's claim of an easy win by insisting the two will simply never meet. His logic is built on a shared opponent ledger: Hokit says he's already beaten Curtis Blaydes and Derrick Lewis, two men Volkov lost to.

Volkov, ranked No. 2 at 40-11 (24 KO), is booked against Rizvan Kuniev at UFC 333. Hokit was quick to point out that Blaydes already holds a win over Kuniev, and that Volkov only narrowly edged Jailton Almeida — a fighter Blaydes handled far more convincingly. Translation, in Hokit's telling: the resume math doesn't favor the veteran.

The Gane Problem

Hokit's next assignment is a serious one. He fights Ciryl Gane at UFC 334, and Gane has beaten Volkov twice. Hokit framed that as the whole point — he intends to finish the man Volkov couldn't solve across two meetings, while taking shots at what he called Volkov's finish-free, low-risk approach of late.

The numbers give the jab some weight. Hokit is a perfect 10-0 with a finish in nine of those ten fights, most recently a second-round TKO of Derrick Lewis. Volkov, by contrast, arrives off a unanimous-decision win over Waldo Cortes-Acosta, the kind of result that invites exactly the sort of needling Hokit is dishing out.

A Jump to 205?

The eye-catching part of the whole exchange was Hokit teasing a move to light heavyweight. He suggested that by the time Volkov earns his way into position for a fight, Hokit will already be dominating a weight class below. It's a bold line from a fighter who still has to get past Gane first.

That's the catch. Call-outs and division-hopping threats land differently depending on what happens at UFC 334. Beat Gane — the man who twice got the better of Volkov — and Hokit's words look like a roadmap. Lose, and the whole premise collapses. For now, the 10-0 run and the shared-opponent scoreboard are doing the talking for him.