Josh Hokit challenges Ciryl Gane for the UFC heavyweight crown on November 14th, and the promotion’s first-ever champion in the weight category has weighed in on the title bout. Mark Coleman is the combatant in question and broke down the bout amid several subjects centred on his documentary feature piece on the second season of Darkside of the Cage.
Touching on his role as the inaugural champ of the weight class and who he sees as cementing themself as the baddest man on the planet at the World’s Most Famous Arena on Saturday night, Coleman said [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“Yeah, baby. Hey, that’s the fight I’m most excited about because I’ve always loved the heavyweights and it’s just really hard to find a couple good quality heavyweights to fight each other. I mean, it’s not that loaded of a weight class. To me, it’s not very deep at all. If I’m being honest, it’s kind of sad after the top six, seven guys. Even some of them guys in the top, they still get tired as hell, man. You know what I mean?”
“It just something’s got to [give]. These guys got to be ready. I’m impressed with [Josh] Hokit. I’ve been on his wagon since day one cuz as soon as I do his background, he’s a football player and a wrestler in college. Well, that turns me on, man. because that’s what I wanted to be. Then I did the research and I’m all in with this guy. That character he came up with, it’s probably him. But wow, man.”
“That was something else. Going through the early [stages] and now he has matured into Oh my god, he’s a social media king right now, man. Doing that rap song. He got that rap song now. It’s like, to me, it’s a 10, man. He’s just killing it and he can back it up. I just hope as the wrestler I never; this one, I’m in shape I’m talking about. I never strayed away from the game plan.”
“I can get this guy down, so why not do it? Because it’s always an advantage to be on top of somebody. That’s a fact. So, I’m going to do that. I’m going to at least soften him up and tire him out a little bit before we trade on the feet because a fresh Ciryl Gane oh, that boy will knock you out really quick if he’s fresh. So I think you should swallow your pride or whatever.”
“Like I love Justin Gathje, but my man, boy, he got hit a lot of times in his career. I love his style, but I don’t think; it’s not the best way to win. The champions know, if you look at all the champions, they can take people down and they can keep them down. That’s how you win. But Hokit, get this guy down and pound his ass. You know what ‘The Hammer’s’ going to say? Shut his eyes, man. Get on top of him and shut his f***ing eyes. Throw a headbutt if you have to.”
Josh Hokit, the UFC heavyweight title, and how much the game has changed from Mark Coleman’s era
Referencing the classic quote from ‘The Hammer’ about how they took headbutts out of MMA and he had to now learn more skills, Coleman stated [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“Yeah, but I just kind of flung that out there. You always need to learn new skills, but listen, it’s a completely different game in there with headbutts. It’s a completely different sport. all the rules. Anytime you add rules, it completely changes the fight strategy and game plan. They had to get rid of it because you would never see all these back-and-forth strategic wars because the headbutt is just going to end the long fights.”
“You know what I mean? Somebody’s going to get caught and smashed and hurt. So they had to get rid of that unfortunately because that’s a real fight with headbutts. That’s a real fight. Everything else is close to real, but when you got to protect yourself from the other dude’s head, now that’s a challenge. If you’re on your back, especially.”
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