Josh Hokit Has Blunt 'Crack a Few Eggs' Response to Daniel Cormier's Trash-Talk Warning
Josh Hokit refused to let the UFC lowball him—and he brought up Daniel Cormier's own Jon Jones paycheck to prove why his villain act works.
Just twelve months ago, Josh Hokit made an estimated $17,000 to show in his UFC debut. By the time he stopped Derrick Lewis on the UFC Freedom 250 card in June, his market value had already exploded. After winning on the White House card, Hokit took home roughly $357,000 total.
Now, he is just a few days away from his heavyweight title clash against Ciryl Gane at UFC 334. UFCalendar projects Hokit to earn $181,000 to show and up to $394,000 with a win and compliance pay, while Gane is set to make an estimated $718,000 base purse.
Rising to a title shot in such a short time is no accident. Hokit sped up his timeline with an outspoken heel persona that kept him in the headlines. He faced plenty of criticism for his unapologetic way of speaking. Even Dana White hasn't been a fan of his antics.
Still, that heel character has played a huge role in his rapid rise. When Daniel Cormier questioned his approach and asked if the trash talk actually helps his career, "The Incredible Hok" bluntly reminded Cormier of his own early UFC paydays.
Josh Hokit Cites Daniel Cormier's Jon Jones Purse in Defense of Controversy
Ahead of Saturday's main event, Hokit sat down with Cormier to debate whether his villain act actually works. Cormier argued that while calling out Ciryl Gane makes sense, remarks that only upset him and Dana White do nothing to move a fighter forward.
The former college football player disagreed, saying any publicity helps him chase bigger paydays. He asked Cormier if he would even be fighting for a title this soon without the noise. The color commentator admitted that "with the fighting and the words," everything Hokit did put him in this spot.
That is when the American fighter brought up Cormier's early paydays. When Hokit claimed Cormier fought Jon Jones for $50,000, the former two-division UFC champion quickly corrected the figure to $80,000 and noted it came at the start of his UFC run.
Hokit made it clear he has no intention of waiting around for a similar slow burn, saying, "I'm not going through that. I don't want anyone to lowball me. If I gotta crack a few eggs to make an omelette, that's what I'm gonna do."
That trash-talking persona is also part of his strategy to play mind games with whoever stands across from him. During Tuesday's fight-week face-off in Times Square with Gane, Hokit even threw out explicit Arabic slang to try to annoy the champion.
Speaking afterward, Gane brushed off the provocation, saying, "He's gonna try . I'm pretty sure that's part of his strategy. I'm pretty sure he's not a dark guy like he pretends to be. Yeah, it's his character and he does it well."
Gane (14-2) enters his first title defense since being promoted after Tom Aspinall vacated the belt. Since he already cracked why Hokit loves to play the outspoken character, it will be interesting to see if Gane can look past Hokit's trash-talking mind games on Saturday.
