During a recent appearance on The Jim Rome Show, White admitted Hokit’s controversial personality may have influenced the promotion’s decision to give him difficult matchups.
“Hokit [vs. Gane] was the fight to make,” White said. “Hokit has been overlooked the whole time — not only by the fans and media, but me. I didn’t like some of the things he said, so I might’ve thrown some tough guys at him, and he passed every test.
“So, here he is,” White continued. “Like him or hate him, he’s fought his way to the top, and there’s no denying that this guy deserves this title shot.”
Nevertheless, the toughest test was undoubtedly Blaydes, who was ranked No. 5 at Heavyweight when UFC matched him against the fast-rising prospect at UFC 327. Hokit survived a bloody three-round war to win a unanimous decision, collecting “Fight of the Night” and “Performance of the Night” bonuses in the process (watch highlights).
I’d like to see him against a top 4 opponent next. I feel like he’s being rushed. He got lit up nearly as much as Blaydes did in that fight and was rocked plenty of times. I’m not sold on him being champ just yet.
Hokit is just not champion material imo. He hits hard enough and has good enough hands that it could happen, but it would be a short lived title reign.
I heavily favor Gane in this fight.
He’s one of the best wrestlers in the division and a dog with a great chin on the feet. That’s a bad matchup for every existing HW unless Jones returns or Gable gets good.
O’Malley was gifted his way to the title shot.
Lol what?
Hes had one of the quickest and easiest runs to a title shot you’ll ever see.
Horsecrap
He was rolling with most of the shots.
His face was basically unscathed after 15 minutes of “taking shots” from a 6’4", 265 lb HW
Interesting admission.
Now we know a fighter’s opponents are dictated by how popular he is with Dana White.
Dana likes you and you get an easy path to the top.
If not, you get killers.
It should be more controversial than it is.
I like these odds so i put a little $ on the underdog. As pointed out above, he has a chin, has power, and some of the better wrestling in the division.
Wow, crazy odds considering Gane has shown a big weakness in the grappling department.
If it stays on the feet, yeah. But it won’t. Hokit takes him down easy and will make him look like a bitch once off their feet.
Just put some money on Hokit
Sometimes like Trump Dana opens his fat mouth when he shouldn’t. He used to do it much more often before Zuffa sold to WME.
Imagine if Goodell said “yeah, we really wanted the Cowboys in the playoffs so we gave them the easiest schedule possible”.
He was also flailing against the cage in an exchange, just like reaching out and flailing