UFC Freedom 250 card: Is Josh Hokit the heavyweight hero the promotion needs?

Just eight months ago, Josh Hokit was a relatively unknown mixed martial artist who made the majority of the UFC audience collectively cringe upon his unexpectedly loud and boorish arrival.

Now, he's one of the UFC's fastest-rising stars. Whether this is a good thing or simply a byproduct of the promotion's lack of marketable heavyweight fighters is up for debate. What's indisputable is that the former college football player is the buzz of the MMA industry following a whirlwind turn of events that saw his reputation transform from attention-hungry newcomer to potential title contender inside of a year.

Following a Fight of the Year candidate against veteran contender Curtis Blaydes at UFC 327 that earned Hokit a decision victory and $200,000 in bonus money, he's now booked at the UFC Freedom 250 card in June. His opponent is Derrick Lewis, whose addition to the card reportedly came at the behest of President Trump, who cites Lewis as his favorite UFC fighter. Even so, Hokit is the fighter who is currently receiving the bulk of the headlines for the historic card.

Last August, Hokit earned a UFC roster spot following his performance on "Dana White's Contender Series," the promotion's hybrid tryout/reality show that sees MMA prospects fight each other and selected winners, chosen by UFC president Dana White, receive minimum-salary UFC contracts at the conclusion of the broadcast.

Following his second-round knockout victory, Hokit gave a rambling, pro-wrestling style soliloquy that most observers chalked up to a feeble impersonation of his admitted UFC hero, former title contender and current UFC analyst Chael Sonnen, who is generally credited as the godfather of UFC trash talk.  

The former Fresno State football player and wrestler, who also had a tryout with the San Francisco 49ers, proceeded to win two fights over the next six months against unranked journeymen while actively cosplaying, fully costumed, his WWE-influenced alter ego into any live microphone and in front of any rolling camera he could find.

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The goal of Hokit's exaggerated character remains unclear because it's difficult to ascertain whether the aim of his grunt-heavy, stream-of-consciousness rambling is to be embraced as a superhero, an anti-hero, some combination of both, or neither. Accordingly, the UFC audience reaction has been fractured: Some are amused, many bemused, the majority confused. Even Hokit's boss, White, who is both accustomed to and unopposed to UFC fighters making names for themselves behind a combination of elite MMA skills and bold personalities -- after all, he has dealt with bombastic anarchist Sean Strickland as middleweight champion -- has repeatedly said he isn't particularly fond of nor impressed by Hokit's shtick.

Even so, White concedes that the attention the 28-year-old Hokit (9-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) generated played a part in the promotion's decision to fast-track him at UFC 327 against a top five-ranked opponent in Blaydes to see if the outfit potentially had a star in a division desperately in need of one.

The fight delivered unexpected fireworks in large part because Blaydes is known as a wrestler who was likely to serve as a litmus test to Hokit's all-around MMA skills. Instead, the fighters ditched MMA craftsmanship in favor of savagery with the three-round bout resembling a barroom brawl in which neither party surrendered, while setting a heavyweight record for combined strikes landed with 354. The "just bleed" bros loved it, and the UFC was suddenly left with an unlikely but undeniable rising star in Hokit.

"He walked the talk tonight. When people come out and say stupid (stuff) and have sort of a shtick, it's not my thing. But nothing but respect for both of those men tonight," White told the media following UFC 327. "That fight was unbelievable. You won't hear a word out of me from here on out about him. Like I said, he walked the talk."

Before the UFC 327 broadcast ended, White announced that Hokit vs. Lewis for the UFC Freedom 250 card already was in the works, and that both fighters had agreed to preliminary terms of the fight.

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The matchup was made in part because the heavyweight division is in disarray for a variety of reasons. Former champion Jon Jones, who won the belt in March 2023 made just one title defense before the mercurial fighter "retired" in 2025 amid a reported contract dispute and reoccurring indifference toward competing. White has repeatedly claimed Jones backed out of a deal for a mega fight against current champion Tom Apsinall, who is sidelined indefinitely because of severe eye injuries suffered in his last appearance. Aspinall's opponent in that October fight was none other than Ciryl Gane, who was briefly the interim champion but is 0-3 in fights for the world title and whose low-key personality has never resonated with UFC fans.

Gane is getting yet another title shot against two-division champion Alex Pereira on the UFC Freedom 250 because the UFC is basically bereft of other qualified candidates to compete for the interim title while Aspinall recovers, and the promotion was motivated to give the popular Pereira a chance at an unprecedented third UFC division title. 

Enter Hokit, whose matchup with Lewis, the UFC's all-time knockout leader with 16 who's also noted for his irreverent, dead-pan humor, has perhaps supplanted Pereira vs. Gane as the most anticipated heavyweight matchup on the UFC Freedom 250 card. This, despite the fact that heavyweight co-main event is a five-round fight for a world title and Hokit vs. Lewis is a late addition, three-round spectacle whose appeal is grounded in the public's fascination with both fighters.

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In the betting market, Hokit opened as high as a -400 favorite in some markets but has since been bet down to around -275. The action indicates the early money is showing a modicum of respect for the 41-year-old Lewis, the two-time title challenger who had won two straight before his January fight against No. 4 Waldo Cortes-Acosta resulted in a second-round TKO loss in which Lewis appeared to lose his fighting spirit after the first round. A less popular fighter might have seen his roster spot jeopardized by such a dismal performance, but Lewis has enough earned equity with the UFC to warrant his continued employment.

Here is a look at the current UFC Freedom 250 card with updated odds.

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UFC Freedom 250 card, odds (via Caesars)

• Main event: Ilia Topuria (-800) vs. Justin Gaethje (+460) for undisputed lightweight title 
• Co-main event: Alex Pereira (-125) vs. Ciryl Gane (-105), for interim heavyweight title 
• Sean O'Malley (-425) vs. Aiemann Zahabi (+290), ranked bantamweights 
• Josh Hokit (-275) vs. Derrick Lewis (+200), ranked heavyweights 
• Mauricio Ruffy (-700) vs. Michael Chandler (+425), lightweights 
• Bo Nickal (-340) vs. Kyle Daukaus (+240), middleweights 
• Diego Lopes (-200) vs. Steve Garcia (+150), featherweights 

Josh Nagel is the combat sports editor for Sportline and its lead boxing analyst. His 2025 boxing selections netted a profit of more than $2,500 for SportsLine members. Check out SportsLine here to see more of his analysis and predictions.