Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Former 49ers Player Slams the NFL After UFC Switch

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Kevin Binoy | Last updated Aug 20, 2025 1:59 AM ET

Most guys who walk into Dana White’s Contender Series are hungry fighters grinding their way up the MMA ladder, hoping for that life-changing UFC contract. It’s a stage that has produced stars like Sean O’Malley and Alexandre Pantoja, proving just how big the opportunity really is. But every now and then, someone shows up with a story that feels a little different.

This season, that someone is Josh Hokit, a man who once chased glory on the football field but has since decided the NFL wasn’t where his future belonged. Instead, he traded in the pads for gloves, leaving behind one dream to chase another inside the Octagon.

Hokit decided to share his thoughts on his former employer after earning a contract on Dana White’s Contender Series. He said, “I left the liberal snowflake NFL to do a real man’s sport in a real man’s promotion and here I am doing just that by earning this UFC contract. I’ve been chewed up and spit out and I continue to find a way and I will find a way to that UFC gold.”

“I left the liberal, snowflake NFL to do a real man’s sport in a real man’s promotion.”

- Josh Hokit after signing a UFC contract on Dana White’s Contender Series pic.twitter.com/U5MoVkQjRs
— Happy Punch (@HappyPunch) August 20, 2025

Josh Hokit isn’t your typical newcomer to the fight game. The 27-year-old spent his college years lining up at tight end and fullback for Fresno State before getting a shot in the NFL. He spent a couple of seasons with the San Francisco 49ers in 2020 and 2021, had a short run with the Arizona Cardinals in 2022, and then decided to hang up the pads altogether. Now, instead of chasing first downs, he’s chasing knockouts in MMA.

Josh Hokit Is Not the Only Switchover From the NFL

The Clovis, California native was a standout wrestler before switching gears to football in college, then made his way back to combat sports in 2023.

Since turning pro, he’s racked up five wins all by stoppage with three of those ending in the first round. After a short run in Bellator and three finishes in LFA, Hokit now gets his shot on the Contender Series.

His opponent, Uriel, 28, was 6-1 and also coming from LFA, with back-to-back first-round finishes of his own. Hokit joins a list of ex-football players making the jump, including Greg Hardy and Austen Lane. Hardy went on to have ten fights in the UFC albeit an extremely unsuccessful stint with most of the fights ending up in losses. Lane on the other hand is not faring much better either, having lost four of his six fights in the UFC so far.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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