Josh Hokit Calls for Gane Fight After Aspinall Vacates Heavyweight Title
Josh Hokit put himself in the heavyweight title line the same day Tom Aspinall gave the belt back. The ranked contender said the fans deserve him against interim champion Ciryl Gane and promised to keep fighting if the UFC hands him the job.
Aspinall vacated Monday after saying ongoing eye complications have blocked medical clearance. He has not finished a fight since inheriting the title from Jon Jones, and his October 2025 meeting with Gane ended as a no contest on eye pokes.
Gane later stopped Alex Pereira in the second round at the White House in June and took the interim strap. With Aspinall out, the Frenchman is expected to be elevated to undisputed champion.
Hokit did not wait for that announcement. He posted the claim on X within hours of Aspinall’s statement.
“The fans deserve Me vs Gane. I’ll give Ciryl what he has coming,” Hokit wrote. “If Alex can win 1 fight in my weight class, I’ll give it to him too, early ‘27. I’ll be the most active champ in the company.”
That is three promises in one post. He wants Gane next. He will book Pereira only after Pereira wins a heavyweight fight. He will not sit on the belt if he gets it.
Pereira has already asked for Gane again and named Madison Square Garden in November as the room he wants. Hokit’s condition is that Pereira first prove the move at 265 is real with a win in the division.
Hokit is listed among the ranked heavyweights and has built his name on volume and talk as much as finishes. The UFC on Paramount graphic that circulated with his post placed him next to Gane and a title belt. It is a pitch, not a coronation.
The division has been frozen for almost a year. Aspinall’s surgeries, infections, and a new sparring accident in his right eye left no date for a return. He said he vacated so other fighters would not wait on him.
Gane is the man who benefits first. He has the interim title, the Pereira win, and the unfinished business from the Aspinall no contest. Hokit is trying to jump the queue before Pereira or Alexander Volkov becomes the default answer.
Nothing is booked. The UFC has not said who fights for the vacant or newly unified belt, and Gane has not answered Hokit in public.
What is public is the order Hokit wants. Gane now. Pereira later, and only if Pereira wins once at heavyweight. Activity as the selling point in a division that just lost its champion to an injury that will not clear.
Aspinall said he is not done with the sport. Until he is medically cleared, the title picture belongs to the men who can walk into a cage. Hokit just named himself first in that line.