Dustin Poirier likes what he sees in Josh Hokit.
This past Saturday’s UFC 327 event featured a star-studded lineup and results to match, with Carlos Ulberg scoring one of the most dramatic knockouts of the year against Jiri Prochazka to claim a vacant light heavyweight title, Paulo Costa upsetting the undefeated Azamat Murzakanov, and the legendary Cub Swanson having his hand raised in his final fight.
But the most talked-about fighter at the end of the evening might have been Josh Hokit. In just his third UFC fight, Hokit out-brawled perennial heavyweight contender Curtis Blaydes en route to a thrilling decision win, and also earned Fight of the Night and Performance of the Night awards to collect a cool $200,000 in bonuses. On the UFC’s About Last Fight show, Dustin Poirier credited Hokit for stealing the show, going as far as to say the 28-year-old is following the same path as UFC superstar Conor McGregor.
“Listen, when stars start to align—you’ve seen it in Conor—when you talk the talk and walk the walk, you’ve seen ‘Sugar’ Sean [O’Malley], you’ve seen Chael Sonnen, we’ve seen it time and time again where guys talk the talk and then they walk the walk. And he just did it this week.
“He talked a big game and he went out there and put on one of the best heavyweight fights we’ve seen and got his hand raised. Good things happen. You become a star.”
When the UFC updates its official rankings Tuesday, Hokit will vault into the top 10 with his win over Blaydes (No. 5 heading into UFC 327). It’s been a rapid rise up the ranks for “The Incredible Hok,” who made his pro debut in 2023 and was signed off of Dana White’s Contender Series less than eight months ago.
“It’s crazy the timespan he’s made all this happen,” Poirier said. “I saw a stat earlier today, Curtis Blaydes was fighting Francis Ngannou in the UFC a year before [Hokit] made his mixed martial arts debut. To come this far in that short a time is incredible.”
Hokit was already generating buzz before fight night, both positive and negative. At Wednesday’s media day, he made a public show of confronting both Ulberg and Prochazka, and went on to cut promos under several different personas, including one that saw him don a bizarre accent and spout racist jokes. Regardless, Hokit’s antics continued to bring him attention and it all culminated in a spectacular fight night performance capped off by another elaborate pro-wrestling style post-fight interview.
Poirier was impressed with what he saw, including Hokit’s frequent mid-fight taunts.
“When you talk the way he’s been talking all week, you have to fight like that,” Poirier said. “You have to go out there and fight like that. He set a record for the most middle fingers.”
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