Curtis Blaydes isn\u2019t giving Josh Hokit the attention he clearly craves ahead of their fight at UFC 327 on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Ever since arriving in the UFC, Hokit has done his best to cut pro wrestling style promos before and after his fights, often times bordering on being flat out offensive whenever he opens his mouth. During UFC 327 fight week, Hokit already tried to start an altercation with main event fighter Jiri Prochazka and did the same talking trash to Carlos Ulberg when they passed each other in the host hotel.<\/p>\n
For his part, Blaydes knows exactly what Hokit is trying to achieve and that\u2019s getting attention, which is why he\u2019s not even bothering with him until the set foot in the octagon on Saturday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo [I haven\u2019t run into him] and I\u2019m going to be honest, I don\u2019t want to,\u201d Blaydes said during UFC 327 media day. \u201cHe just wants the clips.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike I saw the one he did with Jiri [Prochazka]. He just wants people to see like \u2018oh look, he\u2019s talking shit to Jiri!\u2019 Because Jiri is a professional. He\u2019s not going to beat the shit out of you in the hotel lobby. Neither will I because we\u2019re going to do it this weekend. Engaging with him right now or any day besides this weekend, waste of time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blaydes believes Hokit is doing his best to mimic another famous trash talker from the UFC but his attempts have come up short.<\/p>\n
Add to that, Blaydes doesn\u2019t view Hokit as a very good fighter so he\u2019s compensating his lack of skills by trying to be the most over-the-top lunatic on the entire roster.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s doing the Colby Covington bit,\u201d Blaydes said. \u201cBut I\u2019ll give it to Colby, he was actually good. He was actually a really good wrestler, got better with the hands. He\u2019s actually good. I don\u2019t agree with him acting like that either but at least with him, he has something to stand on.<\/p>\n
\u201cHokit, he knows he\u2019s not going to be able to get paid off of his actual skill inside of the octagon. He\u2019s like \u2018OK, I\u2019m going to be a personality.\u2019 I\u2019m going to be the guy when you interview him, \u2018I say random shit\u2019 and I guess if you want to be in that niche, that\u2019s your niche but it\u2019s not my thing. I\u2019m not going to engage with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blaydes has largely avoided any ugly rivalries since he arrived in the UFC but he knows Hokit is doing everything possible to get under his skin.<\/p>\n
So far, Blaydes has only been annoyed by Hokit\u2019s antics but he expects the loud-mouthed heavyweight to really go on the offensive during the UFC 327 press conference on Thursday. He promises that he\u2019s not going to take the bait but that doesn\u2019t mean Hokit isn\u2019t going to try.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, just slightly annoying but I\u2019m sure after tomorrow when we do the presser, I\u2019m not going to like him very much,\u201d Blaydes said. \u201cThe UFC can just take my microphone. I\u2019m not going to respond.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what he wants. He wants the views. He wants to get the viral [moment] like the [Conor] McGregor \u2018who the f*ck is that guy?\u2019 He wants that. I\u2019m not going to give you what you want. I\u2019m going to be dry. Very, very dry.\u201d<\/p>\n
When it comes to the actual fight, Blaydes doesn\u2019t really view Hokit as a serious threat, which is why he\u2019s convinced that his upcoming opponent is desperately trying to grab the spotlight now before they meet in the octagon.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a smaller version of [Jailton] Almeida,\u201d Blaydes said about Hokit. \u201cThat\u2019s essentially how I view him. He wants to grapple. He doesn\u2019t want to really be on the feet at all. He doesn\u2019t believe in his hands. He\u2019s a small heavyweight. It\u2019s hard to be a small heavyweight when you don\u2019t have any hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe really, really, he wants to be this guy, this personality guy. I think he\u2019s doing it because he knows he\u2019s not going to win and he\u2019s like \u2018how do I maintain a place in the UFC? I\u2019ll be the funny guy.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Based on resumes, Blaydes was a little surprised the UFC even offered him Hokit in the first place, especially considering where they both sit in the heavyweight pecking order.<\/p>\n
Blaydes is a perennial top five ranked contender with a pair of fights against current champion Tom Aspinall not to mention a long list of notable wins in the UFC. Meanwhile, Hokit is 2-0 in the UFC and he\u2019s yet to face anybody even remotely comparable to Blaydes much less any ranked opposition.<\/p>\n
But Blaydes isn\u2019t viewing the matchup as a slight to him but rather that the UFC probably doesn\u2019t enjoy Hokit\u2019s behavior very much either and this is a good way to shut him up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m viewing it either the UFC really likes him or they really don\u2019t like him,\u201d Blaydes said. \u201cI\u2019m going to lean towards the latter, I don\u2019t think they like him very much.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to say I\u2019m a gatekeeper but if I am, I\u2019m good at it. I know you\u2019re not going to beat me unless you\u2019re legit and I don\u2019t think Hokit\u2019s legit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Curtis Blaydes isn\u2019t giving Josh Hokit the attention he clearly craves ahead of their fight at UFC 327…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":595901,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,1347,785,85,787,1396,14855],"class_list":{"0":"post-595900","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-latest-news","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-ufc","15":"tag-ufc-news","16":"tag-videos"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=595900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/595901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=595900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=595900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=595900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}