Written by Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images
Josh Hokit was one of PFL’s promising heavyweight prospects, but he ultimately made the decision to leave the organization after competing just once since the promotion merged with Bellator.
“They kind of made it easy,” Hokit told MMA Fighting. “They renegotiated everyone’s contracts, and so I was fighting for a little bit more money and they sent a new contract, and it was for less money. I was like, ‘I don’t think it’s worth it,’ and I only fought twice in two years. I wanted to be way more active than that.
“I thought it was the best decision just to go elsewhere, take the pay cut. But as long as I’m active, that’s all I care about right now.”
Hokit (4-0) certainly has been more active, as he competed as many times in 2025 for LFA as he did during his entire PFL and Bellator run. The 4-0 heavyweight standout competes for the third time in 2025 this Friday when he faces Eric Lunsford at LFA 208.
The undefeated fighter says the contract renegotiation with PFL was a significant difference from what he was making, and even if it wasn’t he may have made the choice to leave anyhow.
“It was like a $20,000 difference,” Hokit explained. “I was like, it’s not even worth it right now. At this point in my career, I need more experience, and I don’t know if they wanted me to, but they were going to throw me in the fire right away and it was going to be for less money. I was like, I’ll just go elsewhere, get more experience and climb the ranks that way. I feel like that was a better decision for me, better situation.
“I think they were gonna try to throw me in the tournament. I was like, I only have like 2 fights and I don’t know if that’s the best decision, so that ultimately, I was like, go elsewhere and get more experience, work my way up. …
“In the beginning [of the merger], it seemed like they wanted to keep me still, and so I believe it was just the contract ended within a year and a half and so I only fought twice. I think the contract was already ending because the year and a half was already over and so they made it seem like they wanted to keep me and then I also, I was talking to them, I was going to see if I could go into other organizations to just get more experience and then still fight for PFL. And they seemed OK with that, and I was just turned off by the whole situation with PFL and the Bellator thing.
“I was like, why am I even fighting in the first place? I’m not fighting to be PFL champion. I’m fighting to be UFC champion. So that’s The goal of mine is I want to be in the UFC.”
Hokit, a former college football and wrestling standout, was signed as an undrafted free agent by the San Francisco 49ers in 2020. After an on-and-off two-year stint with the 49ers, he signed with the Arizona Cardinals for just five days before being waived, thus ending his football career.
The 27-year-old transitioned to MMA and has found great and early success. In fact, Hokit says that his matchup this Friday has a very good chance of being his final fight outside of the TKO/UFC organizational bubble.
“I already actually signed a contract with Dana White Contender Series for August,” Hokie said. “I’m just doing this fight for more experience because I just know it’s just how the UFC is shaped nowadays. These guys are ready to fight in the UFC. They got experience from all over the world and all that other stuff. So they’re ready to be contenders, and so that’s how I’m looking at it.
“Heavyweight’s a little bit different where there’s just not as much — how would I say it — the heavyweight division is not very deep. It’s like they don’t got as much skill as the 145-pound division.
“So I feel like with my skill set, I could hang with those guys and ultimately beat all of them, in my opinion, with my skill set right now. And I feel like after this fight, that’s going to be 5 wins, so I don’t feel like I need any more — I mean, more fights the better, but I don’t feel like I need to take any more fights than I have to. I feel like I’m ready for Contender Series and whatever happens after that.”