Josh Hokit will not have Greg Jackson in his corner when he faces Derrick Lewis at the UFC White House card on June 14, and Mike Winkeljohn says that changes nothing about the plan.
Hokit already said Jackson would miss the fight for “personal reasons,” and Winkeljohn later confirmed Jackson is dealing with family issues. We already covered how Hokit said Greg Jackson would miss the White House fight and how Dana White matched him with Lewis right after UFC 327.
Watch the full interview below:
“Greg’s got a few things going on, so correct, Greg won’t be there. No need to talk about it, all I know is I have two guys at the White House and it’s time to go for a fight. That’s what it’s all about, how cool this is going to be.”
Mike Winkeljohn wants Josh Hokit fighting smart against Derrick Lewis
Winkeljohn said Jackson is still part of the prep even if he is not on site.
“Everyday we’re already game planning what to do with him. Everything is straight that way. We’ve already got a good plan of what Derrick does and Greg’s kind of broken down a lot of things. That’s what Greg is such a genius at, he can break down in a strategic manner an overall thing and we start fine-tuning these techniques that we need to work on and sometimes they’re just small things that can make a big difference in a fight.”
He also made it clear he does not want Hokit trying to win over the crowd against one of the hardest punchers in UFC history.
“Yes. Yes I am. Wrong time to prove how tough you are. We’ve got to get the W and win the easiest way… I just want the W, I don’t want the tough guy. The crowd loves it, everybody loves it but I don’t want to see him later on in life with brain damage, there’s no doubt about it.”
That is the whole risk in this matchup. Lewis has spent years ending heavyweight fights with one shot, so Jackson Wink does not want Hokit turning this into a brawl for applause.
“With Curtis, I honestly believe it brought the best Curtis Blaydes out. I think it might have almost backfired in many ways because I think Curtis was no way going to stop, he was so p—– off at Josh and was upset with a lot of things or a little bit bugged, whatever the case is. So, it made for a great fight.”
That matters because Hokit is still new to MMA. According to his fight history, he turned pro in 2023 and is now 9-0 after bringing over an All-American wrestling background from Fresno State, college football experience, and time on NFL practice squads. Lewis is the proven veteran, a former Legacy FC heavyweight champion with the kind of power that can flatten a bad decision fast.
“It’s pretty wild. Donald Trump, he wanted Derrick Lewis, he wanted that guy.”
“I think he understands that Derrick always brings that excitement, that big punching power, which is scary. Everybody wants to see Josh Hokit. Either you like Josh, you want to see whether he can perform, or now you don’t like him because of his antics and you’re hoping Derrick Lewis hits him and Josh stands still for that. So with that being said, that would not be our plan is to stand there and get hit by Derrick Lewis because that man can hit hard, no doubt about it.”
“It was pretty exciting. After the fight I kind of pointed over at Dana and Mr. Trump and I basically just pointed at Josh and I said, ‘Hey, this is the guy. This is the guy.’ It was kind of neat to see that whole thing unfold. I had no idea until it happened that Dana would have thought, ‘Hey, you know what? Josh is the guy to fight Derrick Lewis.’ So it was pretty cool.”
Greg Jackson will not be cageside, but Team Hokit says the work is already done. The only thing they cannot do against Lewis is get dragged into a dumb firefight. That same White House card is already strange enough, as we saw when the UFC’s Freedom 250 setup in Pennsylvania had locals thinking a rollercoaster was going up.
