Clip: YouTube source video, from the full source linked below.
Quick answer: On The Ariel Helwani Show, Josh Hokit says he "walked on as a linebacker" and was "playing defense all the way up to this point" when, "by the last two games or maybe it was the last game," against Hawaii, "all the running backs got hurt." Coaches "gave me one running back play." "It was inside zone," and "they ran it I want to say 15 15 to 18 times. So I had 18 carries." Helwani asks, "Same play?" "Same play. 99 yd rushing." "And I changed everything." He "started playing running back in college," and "that spring I got a scholarship uh for football."
The official YouTube title of the November 10, 2026, episode is Josh Hokit ROASTS Ciryl Gane (and Mom) Ahead of UFC 334, Responds to Dana White, Dismisses Aspinall. The description says he joins the show "ahead of his UFC 334 heavyweight title fight against Ciryl Gane." UFC lists that bout as the heavyweight title main event of Polymarket UFC 334, on Saturday, November 14, 2026, at Madison Square Garden in New York. A September 20, 2026, UFC announcement billed the same card and date. The fight had not yet taken place as of November 13, 2026, and this article does not state a result. It stays with the walk-on-to-scholarship account in the used clip, not the fight-preview material in the title.
There is not yet a RealNameOf biography or real-name page for Hokit. He does not name his school in the used clip. Shortly before that window, in the same interview, he refers to Fresno State.
"I walked on as a linebacker"
The used clip picks up mid-season. "That whole season uh I played football," Hokit says, "and by the last two games or maybe it was the last game, I I against Hawaii. All the running backs got hurt."
He is not sure, in the telling, whether it was the last two games or only the last one. This article leaves that as he said it. What he is sure about is the position he had been playing. "I walked on as a linebacker by the way. So I'm playing defense all the way up to this point, and then they gave me one running back play."
The tone he gives the coaches is casual, and a little desperate. "They're like, let's see what you got. All of our guys are hurt." The season around that experiment, he says, was already a loss: "We went one in 11."
One play, 18 carries, 99 yards
They did not install a package. "They gave me one one run play, and it was inside zone." Then they kept calling it. "They ran it I want to say 15 15 to 18 times. So I had 18 carries."
Helwani wants to be sure. "Same play?" "Same play." The result, in Hokit's account, is a round number: "99 yd rushing." He does not, in this cut, break down a long run, a score, or a quarter. He does not name a coach from that 1-11 staff.
"Yeah. And I changed everything. Changed everything."
"That spring I got a scholarship"
The change, as he tells it, was immediate and practical. "So then I started playing running back in college. And then um that spring I got a scholarship uh for football."
The used clip ends there, on the scholarship. In the same interview, after that window, he keeps going into a coaching change and what the next staff made of the Hawaii tape; that continuation is outside this piece. He does not, in the used cut, name the year, the head coach, or the campus.
Related reading
- Real names of MMA fighters
- Real names of football players
- Cobrinha, born Rubens Charles Maciel, walks through solo BJJ guard drills
- Cain Velasquez on being signed after Dana White watched him spar
FAQ
### How did Josh Hokit say he got his first chance at running back?
He says he had walked on as a linebacker and was still playing defense when, "by the last two games or maybe it was the last game" against Hawaii, all the running backs got hurt, and the coaches gave him "one running back play."
What play does he say they ran, and what were the numbers?
"It was inside zone." "They ran it I want to say 15 15 to 18 times. So I had 18 carries." "Same play. 99 yd rushing."
When does he say he got a scholarship?
"That spring I got a scholarship uh for football," after he "started playing running back in college." He does not name the school in the used clip.
Why was he on The Ariel Helwani Show?
The official description places the November 10, 2026, interview "ahead of his UFC 334 heavyweight title fight against Ciryl Gane." UFC lists that bout for Saturday, November 14, 2026, at Madison Square Garden. The fight had not yet taken place as of November 13, 2026.