Cortes-Acosta Has Hokit in His Sights: "I Want to Take Out His Whole Mouth"

Waldo Cortes-Acosta has a job to do on Saturday night, and he has already picked out his next one. The Cuban heavyweight headlines UFC Vegas 124 at the Meta Apex against former light heavyweight Johnny Walker, a fight he needs badly after two straight defeats. But when the conversation turned to the man at the top of his division, Cortes-Acosta did not hide what he really wants. "I'm no fan of him," he told MMA Fighting, talking about Josh Hokit. "I want one day, meeting him or being in the ring and take it out — whole teeth, whole mouth, the whole dirty mouth he has." It is the kind of line that lands because of who Hokit has become. The undefeated former NFL player is 10-0, 4-0 in the UFC, and one week away from the biggest fight of his life: a challenge for Ciryl Gane's undisputed heavyweight title in the main event of UFC 334 at Madison Square Garden on November 14. He has talked his way there as much as he has fought his way there, and the division has noticed. Dana White admitted this week that he deliberately gave Hokit tough opponents because he did not like some of the things Hokit was saying — and Hokit beat every one of them. Gane drew his own line this week when the trash talk touched his mother. Now Cortes-Acosta has joined the queue, and he is not queuing politely. There is a grudging respect buried in the threat, though. Cortes-Acosta knows the heavyweight division has been stuck for too long, drifting through interim titles and vacated belts, and he likes that it is finally moving. "I'm excited for the division because they're still moving everything, the title is moving now," he said. "I see the new blood coming for the title. Josh Hokit is a personality in there, but it's still moving the heavyweight division right now, everybody knows. I can expect good things for the heavyweight division over the months, coming in on the new year, too." First, Walker. The Brazilian is dangerous — a former light heavyweight with real finishing power who has moved up to heavyweight — but he has also been stopped by lesser fighters than Cortes-Acosta, and the Cuban knows a win puts him right back in the conversation. Before his current two-fight skid, Cortes-Acosta had won three in a row by knockout, and a fourth statement finish on Saturday night would make his case for a big 2027 hard to ignore. That is the plan, anyway: beat Walker, end the losing run, and then go and collect the fight he actually wants. Hokit, for his part, has spent the whole build-up to UFC 334 telling anyone who will listen to send him anybody. Cortes-Acosta has heard him. He is just asking to be next in line — and he has made it very clear what he plans to do when he gets there.