{"id":796227,"date":"2026-07-12T21:29:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T21:29:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/796227\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T21:29:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T21:29:32","slug":"gable-steveson-responds-to-josh-hokit-after-dominant-ufc-329-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/796227\/","title":{"rendered":"Gable Steveson responds to Josh Hokit after dominant UFC 329 debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gable Steveson has a bright future after an impressive win at UFC 329, and he already has some big names in his sights.<\/p>\n

One contender he\u2019s frequently been compared to is Josh Hokit, another under-30 heavyweight prospect who has fought his way to a top 10 ranking just four fights into his UFC career. Steveson and Hokit have had plenty to say about each other, with Hokit recently responding on social media to comments Steveson made about him in an interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemember, this ain\u2019t wrestling,\u201d Hokit wrote. \u201cIf anyone signs up to face me in a fist fight, better have a good insurance policy. It will take your doctor time to put your face back together, unless you quit like the last guy I fought. This includes the guy [Jon Jones] that trains you. I\u2019m the baddest man on the planet.<\/p>\n

\u201c[UFC], give me Ciryl and I will prove it\u2026 I will clear this whole division out by the end of 2027. You won\u2019t have to wonder how fights will go. I actually want to fight them all. I just want to get paid when I do it which means I need the title.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steveson made a successful UFC debut at Saturday\u2019s event in Las Vegas, taking out Elisha Ellison inside of a round, and was later asked about Hokit\u2019s response.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike I said, I like Josh as a fighter,\u201d Steveson said. \u201cJosh is a character. Josh wants to make sure people follow him on Instagram or follow him on Twitter. I go out there and dominate. I go out there and win. So if the time comes with Josh, if he doesn\u2019t move down before that, so be it, will make it happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut right now, today I\u2019ll enjoy this victory. Monday, I\u2019ll be back in the gym. I\u2019ll wait for my next call and hopefully it\u2019s [Madison Square Garden], and if it isn\u2019t, we\u2019ll be back before that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regarding Hokit\u2019s colorful\u2014and often offensive\u2014character work<\/a>, Steveson had little to say about it but didn\u2019t appear to take issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe does a great job, good for him,\u201d Steveson said.<\/p>\n

Another important heavyweight name Steveson was asked about was current interim heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane. With undisputed champion Tom Aspinall\u2019s return from injury still yet to be made official, Gane capitalized on his chance to win an interim belt with a knockout over former two-division champion Alex Pereira at UFC White House.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s another potential opponent for Steveson down the road, though he knows it could be some time before that matchup happens.<\/p>\n

\u201cCiryl Gane\u2019s a great fighter, a fantastic fighter,\u201d Steveson said. \u201cHe\u2019s one of my favorite fighters in the heavyweight division. Of course, he\u2019s a target. He has something that a lot of people want, but today I\u2019ll take my win. I\u2019ll take my victory and I keep moving it slow. Ciryl Gane is in the foreseeable future, but he\u2019s not in the next fight, and I\u2019ll worry about the next fight and then after that, I\u2019ll worry about the next one.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gable Steveson has a bright future after an impressive win at UFC 329, and he already has some…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":796228,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,1347,785,85,787,1396],"class_list":["post-796227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-latest-news","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc","tag-ufc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796227","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=796227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/796228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=796227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=796227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=796227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}