Josh Hokit turned a routine weigh-in into the strangest moment of UFC Freedom 250 on Saturday afternoon, swaying almost naked before being urged to stand still and then stepping off the scales at 231lbs. Derrick Lewis, who will face him on Sunday night, weighed in at 265lbs, and their bout was one of seven fights made official for the card on the grounds of the White House.
That is why the search around Josh Hokit Weigh In is spiking now: the 28-year-old did not just make weight, he made a scene. Hokit said, “So what, maybe I was drinking last night. Who wouldn’t be? I have a giant black man that wants to knock me out. He has the most knockouts in UFC history… What are you guys looking at?” and then seemed to throw up on himself while still trying to answer questions, adding to the impression that something was off before he ever reached the scale.
All 14 fighters on the UFC Freedom 250 card made their contracted weights, including Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje at 155lbs for the undisputed UFC Lightweight Championship and Alex Pereira at 251lbs with Ciryl Gane at 248lbs for the interim UFC Heavyweight Championship. The winner of Pereira and Gane is set to meet Tom Aspinall in a unification bout next. It is a rare full clean sheet for a marquee card, but Hokit’s turn on the stage was the one people will remember because it broke the script in public, in front of the White House.
The card itself is being staged outdoors on the South Lawn of the White House in a makeshift 4,300-seater arena, commissioned by the UFC to mark the 250th anniversary of the USA and the 80th birthday of President Donald Trump. Hokit has already built a reputation for outlandish behavior in his three UFC fights to date, but Saturday’s weigh-in pushed that reputation into something more visible, and more awkward, than a post-fight quote or a staredown. The only real question left is whether Sunday night brings the same chaos once the lights come up in the Octagon, or whether Lewis gets a clean first round at a man who seemed barely steady enough to make it to the scale.
