Gable Steveson did not leave the UFC 329 cage with only an Elisha Ellison knockout. He also left with a new answer for Josh Hokit, who had pushed back on Steveson’s pre-fight comments and kept the heavyweight argument alive.
Steveson was asked after his debut about Hokit saying this was not wrestling and warning that a doctor would need time to put his opponent’s face back together if they fought. Steveson kept the response split in two: respect for Hokit as a fighter, and a jab at the way Hokit sells himself online.
“Like I said, I like Josh as a fighter,” Steveson said. “Josh as a character just wants to make sure people follow him on Instagram and follow him on Twitter. I go out there and dominate, go out there and win, so if the time comes with Josh, if he doesn’t move down before that, so be it. We’ll make it happen.”
“Right now, like I said, today I’ll enjoy this victory,” Steveson said. “Monday I’ll be back in the gym. I’ll wait for my next call, and hopefully it’s MSG. If it isn’t, we’ll be back before that.”
Watch Steveson’s post-fight answer below:
Gable Steveson claps back at Josh Hokit’s recent comments before his #UFC debut at #UFC329:
“I like Josh as a fighter. Josh, as a character, wants to make sure people follow him on Instagram. … If the time comes with Josh, so be it. We’ll make it happen.”
— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) July 12, 2026
Josh Hokit Kept The Heavyweight Door Open
Hokit had already made his position clear before Steveson’s UFC debut. After the weight-class talk started, Hokit posted that he was not planning a move to light heavyweight unless it came with a bigger two-division target.
“I will not be going down to 205 UNLESS it’s for double champ status!” Hokit wrote. “Until then, I’m here to prove that I am the baddest man on the planet and you can only acquire that status by having the Heavyweight World Title!”
I will not be going down to 205 UNLESS it’s for double champ status! Until then, I’m here to prove that I am the baddest man on the planet and you can only acquire that status by having the Heavyweight World Title!🏆
— The Incredible Hok (@Josh_HokitUFC) July 10, 2026
Hokit also had a longer answer to the wrestling comparison, and that post carried the harder fight challenge. He framed the matchup as a fist fight, not a wrestling match, then called for a much bigger heavyweight name.
“Remember, this ain’t wrestling,” Hokit wrote. “If 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’m the baddest man on the planet.”
“[UFC], give me Ciryl and I will prove it… I will clear this whole division out by the end of 2027. You won’t 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.”
High School: All State in Football & CA State Champ. Ranked top 3 in nation.
College: Running Back. 15-hr days with a Bowl-bound football team. No time to train wrestling.
Finished football in Jan ➡️ cut weight & prepped in 2 months ➡️ Finished Top 5 in the NCAA wrestling…— The Incredible Hok (@Josh_HokitUFC) July 11, 2026
That is why Steveson’s phrase “if he doesn’t move down before that” was pointed. Hokit is still presenting himself as a heavyweight, while Steveson is now 4-0 in MMA after stopping Ellison in his UFC debut.
Steveson’s First Hokit Answer Was Even Sharper
The post-fight answer followed a harsher pre-fight response that already appeared in the build to UFC 329. Steveson said he did not remember Hokit from heavyweight wrestling brackets and argued that the gap between them was not limited to amateur credentials.
“I’ve never seen him in a bracket that I was in,” Steveson said. “I never met him. I never wrestled him.”
“Bo Nickal cannot pin me,” Steveson said. “You know what I would do to Bo Nickal in a wrestling match? I would beat Bo Nickal 10-0 in under a minute.”
“When you mention wrestling, he’s not on the same level as me,” Steveson said. “When you mention fighting, it’s the same thing.”
The earlier Steveson clip is below:
Gable Steveson did NOT hold back on Josh Hokit 😳
— Jon-Bernard Kairouz (@jonbernardk) July 11, 2026
The earlier Gable Steveson vs. Josh Hokit exchange came before Steveson fought Ellison. The difference now is that Steveson has a UFC win attached to the callout, and Hokit has already given him the heavyweight lane to answer.
Steveson Put Ciryl Gane In The Future, Not The Next Fight
Steveson was also asked about interim heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane, the same name Hokit called for in his own post. Steveson did not dismiss the matchup, but he made it clear he sees that as a later target rather than the immediate next booking.
“Ciryl Gane’s a great fighter, a fantastic fighter,” Steveson said. “He’s one of my favorite fighters in the heavyweight division. Of course, he’s a target. He has something that a lot of people want, but today I’ll take my win. I’ll take my victory and I keep moving it slow. Ciryl Gane is in the foreseeable future, but he’s not in the next fight, and I’ll worry about the next fight and then after that, I’ll worry about the next one.”
The pairing already had a name attached to it because Daniel Cormier called Hokit vs. Steveson a future heavyweight title-level fight. Steveson’s broader combat-sports momentum also predates UFC 329, including his 10-0 technical fall over Alexandr Romanov at RAF 9. A UFC booking is still only talk, but Steveson’s latest answer made the next step simple: if Hokit stays at heavyweight and the promotion calls, he says they can make it happen.
