Josh Hokit’s journey from the NFL to UFC championship contention came with commentary about the sport he left behind. The heavyweight contender who spent two years with the San Francisco 49ers before transitioning to mixed martial arts, hasn’t held back his thoughts on why he walked away from professional football.
“When you were a child you thought like a child, you talk like a child, you reason like a child, and when you became a man, you put away the childish ways behind you,” Hokit explained during his appearance on Full Send MMA. “And to me, football is just a child’s game. You know what I’m saying? This is a real man sport.”
The shift came at age 24 or 25, when Hokit was still with the 49ers. Despite the prestige of playing in the NFL, something fundamental was missing.
“It was cool. The the prestige of playing football was cool, but it was just an emptiness in me,” he said. “It was it was it was bothering me. Even though it’s like it’s cool saying that, yeah, I’m with the 49ers or with the whatever team. It was just a it was still missing a void. It was a big void that that still need to be filled.”
What Hokit craved was individual accountability, something he felt football couldn’t provide.
“I need the pressure on me. I don’t want to rely on the left tackle. You know what I’m saying?”
The team dynamic that defines football became a limitation rather than a strength for someone seeking complete control over his outcomes.
His criticism extended to the culture within football itself.
“That’s the thing that bothered me with football is like you got all these talkers. I mean, if we competed, are you going to really be talking like that? You know what I’m saying? It’s like because we they hide behind a a helmet and pads.”
Even the physical confrontations in football felt constrained to Hokit. When asked about scuffles during his time in the league, he recalled having to navigate carefully as an undrafted player.
“I remember getting an underhook and just judo throwing, hip tossing a linebacker. You got to be careful though.”
The restrictions chafed against his competitive nature. “If you’re getting paid big money, be careful,” he noted about the hierarchy that prevented genuine competition during practice.
Despite his criticisms, Hokit acknowledged that some football players possess the mentality needed for combat sports. He cited Fred Warner and Maxx Crosby as examples, noting Crosby’s decision to spar with Sean Strickland during the off-season.
“I respect that,” Hokit said, though he maintained that mental toughness remains unproven until tested in the octagon. “Until you get punched in the face, how tough are you?”
