Josh Hokit wants to see the UFC heavyweight division move on without champion Tom Aspinall.
Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) was sidelined after he underwent surgery, which resulted from an accidental eye poke in his title fight with Ciryl Gane at UFC 321 this past October.
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The promotion wound up booking Gane (14-2 MMA, 11-2 UFC) against Alex Pereira (13-4 MMA, 10-3 UFC) for the interim belt at UFC Freedom 250, which Gane claimed when he finished Pereira by second-round TKO. Hokit (10-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) solidified himself as a top contender when he knocked out Derrick Lewis on the same night, and he wants in on the title picture.
Aspinall finally appears to be gearing toward a rematch with Gane after his rift with the UFC, but Hokit has other ideas.
“This crybaby has lost all of his aura. Here’s an idea @ufc . Cut Tom. Ciryl is the undisputed champ anyways IMO. He made Tom quit. Tom’s manager is trying to play games. Give me Ciryl in September and when I win I will give @AlexPereiraUFC a chance to get his self esteem back in Nov/Dec. At least then we will have a champ that is down to fight all of the time.”
Hokit earlier mocked Pereira, who is still protesting his stoppage loss against Gane. Pereira went off on referee Herb Dean for not addressing blows he felt were illegal in his fight-ending sequence against Gane and continues to call for him to retire.
“Alex Periera is a broken man… imagine how much more broken he’ll be after I beat him… he started as an alcoholic and he will end as an alcoholic…”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Josh Hokit maps out road to UFC title – starting with Tom Aspinall getting cut
