Josh Hokit On Ugly Michelle Obama Comments: ‘You’ll Never Hear Me Backtrack’

Josh Hokit is not apologizing to anyone for his ugly post-fight comments at UFC Freedom 250.

Coming out of the historic card at the White House, Hokit generated significant attention. Not for his win over Derrick Lewis, but for a comment he made calling former United States First Lady Michelle Obama a man. The remark drew widespread criticism, including from UFC CEO Dana White, who said he hated that kind of nonsense. Hokit’s response to all of it, speaking with Yahoo Sports, was to make clear he has no intention of walking any of it back.

Josh Hokit defends Michelle Obama comments

“That’s one thing about my career, I’m never going to — I think I was watching a Cejudo video, and he was like, ‘That’s one thing I regret, all the stuff I did.’ Or you hear people backtrack,” Hokit said. “Even the Sean Strickland post-fight speech, where he was like, ‘I’m trying to sell the fight. I don’t mean the things I say.’ You’ll never hear me backtrack from what I say.”

Hokit signed with the UFC off Contender Series last year and has already competed four times in the promotion, climbing the rankings steadily through a combination of strong performances and an increasingly loud public persona. That formula has worked for him so far, and he is not interested in recalibrating it to satisfy outside criticism. His only stated concern is the possibility of upsetting White or other senior UFC executives — and even that caveat comes with conditions.

“At the end of the day, I don’t care,” Hokit said. “Now, I’m not trying to piss off the Dana Whites and Hunter Campbells, but they would also message me if they really felt a certain way. They could comment, and stuff like that. But if they really felt a certain way, they would message me. But at the end of the day, all the other people, it’s like, they weren’t there when I was down. They weren’t there when I was broken. So I couldn’t care less what anybody thinks. I’m here to make a splash, and I’m here to back up my words as well. So, if anybody feels some type of way, they know where to find me.”