🚨 Josh Hokit proposes a NEW 225-pound BMF division where fighters compete without cutting weight! The undefeated UFC heavyweight believes big middleweights like Khamzat Chimaev, Dricus Du Plessis, and Sean Strickland should be willing to fight closer to their natural weight. 🗣️ “All these big middleweights that want to be weight bullies can meet me at 225 and we can scrap it out.” Via: (@gamebredfighter )
Undefeated UFC heavyweight Josh Hokit has floated the idea of a new 225-pound BMF division in which fighters would compete without cutting weight, and he has named three of the middleweight division's biggest names as targets.
Hokit's proposal, shared on social media, is aimed at big middleweights he believes should be willing to fight closer to their natural size. He named Khamzat Chimaev, Dricus Du Plessis and Sean Strickland. "All these big middleweights that want to be weight bullies can meet me at 225 and we can scrap it out," Hokit said. There is no indication that the UFC has any such division planned.
Strickland, 35, is the reigning middleweight champion at 31-7-0. He took the belt from Chimaev by split decision at UFC 328 on May 9, 2026, his most recent recorded fight, after a third-round TKO of Anthony Hernandez in February. The American stands six-foot-one with a 76-inch reach and lands 6.04 significant strikes per minute at 42 percent accuracy.
Chimaev, 32, is 15-1-0 and ranked first at middleweight, with a pound-for-pound ranking of tenth. The loss to Strickland is the only defeat on his record, and it came after a unanimous decision over Du Plessis at UFC 319 in August 2025. He is a grappling-heavy fighter, averaging 5.29 takedowns per 15 minutes and 1.8 submission attempts, while landing 4.04 significant strikes per minute at 60 percent accuracy.
Du Plessis is also named in the proposal, though no record data for him accompanied the story.
Why it matters
- Two of the three fighters Hokit called out have already shared a cage: Strickland beat Chimaev in May, and Du Plessis beat Strickland by unanimous decision in February 2025, so the trio is closely linked at the top of the middleweight division.
- The proposal targets the weight cut itself. Hokit frames fighters who make 185 pounds as "weight bullies" who could instead meet a heavyweight near their natural size.
- Strickland and Chimaev are separated by just one inch in height and two inches in reach, with the champion holding the edge in both, which speaks to how similar their frames are to the size Hokit is describing.
The call-out is a social media proposal rather than a booked fight or a UFC initiative.
