Josh Hokit has opened up about the moment that made him go viral for all the wrong reasons earlier this month. It probably might not come as a surprise to many, but the UFC heavyweight has no regrets.
On June 14, Hokit notched easily the biggest win of his fighting career. He beat former UFC title challneger and MMA star Derrick Lewis on UFC Freedom 250 – the highly covered and talked about MMA event that took place on the South Lawn of the White House to celebrate President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday, along with the 250th anniversary of the U.S. After stopping Lewis in a TKO win, Hokit called former First Lady Michelle Obama a “man” in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan before walking away.
Being on White House grounds and with 17 million watching on Paramount+, Hokit’s comments spread like wildfire, receiving criticism from many online. Now, a few weeks removed, Hokit still stands by his actions, which most deemed disrespectful and disgusting.
“No, I will never,” Hokit said when asked on The Ariel Helwani Show if he had any regrets. “That’s one thing about my career. I think I was watching a (Henry) Cejudo video, and he was like, ‘That’s one thing I regret. All the stuff I did. Or you hear (Sean) Strickland backtracking in his post-fight speech, where he was like, ‘I’m trying to sell the fight, and I don’t mean the things I say.’ You’ll never hear me backtracking from what I say.”
UFC CEO Dana White said Hokit’s comments were “disgusting,” but immediately retreated to his stance on freedom of speech and on not taking disciplinary action against his fighters for anything they say. This is one of the reasons why Hokit made the comment in the first place, to exercise the leeway he gets as a UFC fighter compared to any other athlete from a major organization.
“That’s why I respect them so much,” Hokit said. “That’s why I wanted to fight in the UFC. You have bosses like that. If I would’ve said that in the NFL, I don’t have a job anymore. That’s why I respect them so much. Yeah, they could feel some type of way. I respect their opinions, but we do have freedom of speech. I don’t like what other people say, but I have to deal with it and live with it.”
Hokit confirmed that not only was there no disciplinary action for his comments from the UFC, but the promotion also didn’t reach out to him or say anything about what he said.
“At the end of the day, I don’t care,” Hokit said. “Now, I’m not trying to piss off the Dana Whites and Hunter Campbells. I like them. But they would also message me if they would feel a certain way. They could comment and stuff like that. If they really felt a type of way, they could message me. At the end of the day, just like all other people, they weren’t there when I was down when I was broken, so I could care less what anybody thinks. I’m here to make a splash and back up my words. If anybody feels some type of way, they know where to find me.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC’s Josh Hokit doesn’t regret controversial Michelle Obama insult
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