Hokit reveals he deliberately abandoned armbar on Lewis to secure knockout instead

Josh Hokit has revealed that his puzzling armbar attempt on Derrick Lewis during their UFC White House heavyweight bout earlier this month was a deliberate choice — not a failed submission — as he had already set his sights on a knockout finish.

Hokit dominated Lewis across two rounds, eventually stopping “The Black Beast” by knockout in the second. But it was a late first-round armbar entry that left viewers baffled. Hokit secured the position cleanly before appearing to abandon the technique entirely, and the fight continued standing.

Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, Hokit was unapologetic about the decision. “God forbid someone have a little fun in the cage,” he said. “I already have an armbar finish in my career, and I don’t know, submitting Derrick at the White House — I don’t think that would have sat right with me. The armbar entry was phenomenal, but I was going to see if he was just going to panic tap… I didn’t want the fight to end like that, and I wanted to knock out the knockout artist. You know, that was where my mind was at.”

The comments add important context to what many observers had interpreted as a technical lapse. Hokit does have a professional armbar finish on his record — it was his second career win — so the suggestion that he lacked the knowledge to complete the submission never fully held up. His explanation reframes the moment as a calculated gamble: test whether Lewis would panic, and if not, go back to the knockout plan.

The target of that plan carries significant weight. Lewis holds the record for the most knockout victories in UFC history, making Hokit’s second-round finish all the more notable. Choosing to pursue a knockout against the sport’s most prolific finisher, rather than take a submission that was within reach, speaks to the confidence Hokit carried into the bout.

Whether the strategy was wise or reckless is debatable, but the outcome — a decisive win over one of the heavyweight division’s most recognisable names — gives Hokit little reason to second-guess himself.