Alexander Volkov sarcastically lauds UFC for giving mentally ill Josh Hokit title

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Alexander Volkov did not hold back when reacting to Josh Hokit getting the next UFC title shot.

With Tom Aspinall vacating his heavyweight title, Ciryl Gane (14-2 MMA, 11-2 UFC) has been promoted to undisputed champion and will defend his title against Hokit (10-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) at UFC 334 on Nov. 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York (Paramount+).

Volkov (30-11 MMA, 14-5 UFC) has won six of his past seven fights, with his lone setback in that stretch coming in a controversial split decision to Gane at UFC 310. The Russian feels snubbed out of the title picture, and mocked the UFC for opting to go with Hokit.

"I want to be honest with you: I'm very supportive of this fight from the UFC," Volkov said on "The Ariel Helwani Show." "I have a lot of reasons that this fight should happen because Josh Hokit, what I know about him, he's clearly dealing with some mental illness. So it's very admirable for UFC to put a guy with a serious mental condition in a title shot. Of course, he should go in front of me. Guys with this kind of reason should fight first. For him, it's not possible to beat somebody in the top five right now, so this is the easiest way for an American heavyweight to get a title shot.

"It's an incredibly inspiring story of a guy with mental illness who can fight for the heavyweight title. I very much support UFC with that. It's a very noble thing for UFC to do for him with all his mental problems. You can't laugh about people who have a mental illness. UFC sends a powerful message. Mental illness doesn't have to stop anyone from becoming a world champion. This is very admirable for UFC, and I'm very proud for America that they could have this heavyweight champion of the world. America will be very proud of a guy with these kinds of problems to be a champion."

Hokit responded to Volkov by calling him salty.

"😂Maybe he should catch my "mental illness" since he lost to the last 2 guys I beat.Has anyone ever watched a Volkov fight all the way through?He's lucky to still be on the roster. Should have cut his boring ass when they cut Almeida."

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Alexander Volkov sarcastically lauds UFC for giving 'mentally ill' Josh Hokit title shot