Josh Hokit Says He Would Fight Jon Jones After Title Shot
Josh Hokit says a win on November 14 would not make Jon Jones off limits.
Ariel Helwani asked the question on his show. If Hokit beats Ciryl Gane for the undisputed heavyweight title at UFC 334, and Jones comes out of retirement, would the Jackson-Wink connection make that fight awkward?
Hokit shut the gym issue down first.
“He’s not in this gym,” Hokit said. “He’s not at this camp.”
Then he answered the fight question the same way twice. “I’ll fight whoever. I don’t discriminate. Whoever wants it could get it.”
That is as open as a title challenger can be without signing a contract. Jones has not been booked. Helwani was testing the idea, not reading a UFC announcement.
Hokit is 10-0 and faces Gane on November 14 at Madison Square Garden. Gane holds the undisputed belt after Tom Aspinall vacated it in September because of ongoing eye complications. Hokit’s entire public focus is that fight.
“Right now I’m focused on the title,” he said. “I’m not focused on anybody else other than the title.”
The Jones piece only comes after that. “And but after it’s like anybody could get it.”
He added the line that will travel. “They call my name out, they speak my name in vain, I’m stomping them where they stand.”
Jackson-Wink MMA in Albuquerque is the shared history behind Helwani’s question. Jones built part of his career there. Hokit has trained out of the same gym. Shared walls have stopped teammate fights before. Hokit’s point is that Jones is not in his current room and is not in his current camp.
Jones last fought in November 2024, when he knocked out Stipe Miocic at UFC 309. He has said his gloves are hung up and also left the door cracked with “never say never” comments while helping Gable Steveson prepare for the UFC. He has talked about remaining in the drug-testing pool. None of that is a signed return.
A Hokit title win would put an undefeated former college football player across from every name that still sells at heavyweight. Jones is the biggest of those names. Gane is the one on the contract.
Hokit said he would be “that type of champion,” meaning he would not pick around the roster. That is a promise made before he has the belt. The only fight that can make the rest of it real is Gane on November 14.
Jones does not have to come back for any of this to matter on fight night. Hokit still has to beat the champion in front of him. If he does, he has already said the next name on the list does not get a pass because of the gym.
