Sean Strickland took aim at Josh Hokit’s behavior and persona during a media scrum on Tuesday, prompting a fiery response and challenge from the undefeated UFC heavyweight.
Strickland, who is set to face Khamzat Chimaev in the UFC 328 main event on Saturday, questioned Hokit's public image and antics. “It’s like Josh Hokit. It’s like dude, you’re a grown ass man,” Strickland said, later adding, “You’re almost 30 years old and you’re acting like f*cking Jake Paul when he was 13. Like stop, bro. You made it. People know who you are. Just stop. You don’t got to go interview homeless people and be f*cking weird. Just fight now.”
Despite the criticism, Strickland noted he has a personal history with Hokit. “The thing I don’t like about Josh and I’ve met Josh, I’ve trained with Josh — he’s actually a really likeable guy,” he said. “He came to the gym, he’s a really nice guy, consider him a friend of mine. We follow each other on [Instagram]. But at some point it’s such a fabricated image, it reminds you of a WWE skit, that I just want it to die.”
Hokit, a former NFL player turned UFC heavyweight who remains undefeated in the promotion and is scheduled to fight Derrick Lewis at the UFC White House card in June, answered on Twitter. “Let’s fight… I’ll show you the difference between me and Jake Paul,” Hokit wrote, later adding, “[Sean] Strickland, complaining about a persona is like a circus clown complaining about too many balloons. You’re just mad because my WWE skit has better ratings than your personality.”
UFC CEO Dana White has previously stated that he does not enjoy Hokit's outlandish behavior, and the promotion matched Hokit with former title challenger Curtis Blaydes in his third UFC bout.
