Josh Hokit continues to unleash a barrage of insults. And apparently, nobody is off-limits. Earlier this month, the former college football standout nearly triggered a full-blown brawl during the UFC Freedom 250 press conference. Despite being scheduled to face Derek Lewis on June 14, the heavyweight turned his attention toward Alex Pereira, directing personal insults at both the Brazilian star and his mother.
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While Pereira, who understands very little English, remained silent during the exchange, Ilia Topuria stepped in. The confrontation quickly escalated, ultimately ending with the Spaniard throwing an object at Hokit as security swarmed the stage and escorted the heavyweight out of the venue entirely. Since then, Topuria appeared in an interview with Álvaro Colmenero, where he explained exactly why he felt compelled to intervene.
“I didn’t believe it,” Topuria said. “I’ve been in many press conferences, I’ve seen everything. But I’ve never seen someone stand up and talk about someone’s mother in such a bad way. It was quite disrespectful. And Alex, at the same time, since there’s so much noise, it’s not very understandable. And I say, I don’t think he’s saying all this without any need. Because you’re not even going to fight with him.
“You can talk about the other person’s professionalism, you can mess with the other person, it doesn’t matter. We’re used to it, we know what we’re doing. But talking about the other person’s mother in that way, it’s like my blood boils. We can’t give that example here. Millions and millions of people are watching us. How are you talking? What we saw is quite accurate. He couldn’t fail.
“And he was lucky to have so many security guards. One of them was going to get hurt, and it wasn’t going to be me.”
While Ilia Topuria struggled to understand why Josh Hokit would go that far, Hokit’s intentions seem fairly obvious. The heavyweight newcomer is trying to climb the ranks as quickly as possible, and his deliberately provocative trash-talking persona is part of that strategy.
Pereira recently moved up to heavyweight and is currently one of the biggest stars in the promotion. By attaching himself to Pereira’s name, Hokit instantly generates attention and potentially positions himself for a lucrative matchup in the future. If the two were ever booked against each other, the payday would likely be massive for the newcomer.
Following Topuria’s comments about the Freedom 250 altercation, Hokit fired back at the undefeated lightweight champion as well, dismissing him as a “sheltered little boy.”
You’d never survive at a middle school lunch table in America then😂 You sheltered little boy, I said I’m gonna Chama on his Mama😂 If that’s so bad, then that begs the question, what does “Chama” even mean😂
Ilia Topuria on that Josh Hokit incident 😅 via @KOlmeneroMMA pic.x.com/mBfDKuUgDw
“You’d never survive at a middle school lunch table in America then😂 You sheltered little boy,” Hokit wrote on X. “I said I’m gonna Chama on his Mama😂 If that’s so bad, then that begs the question, what does ‘Chama’ even mean😂.”
‘Chama’ means ‘Come On.’ Hokit is acting deliberately innocent, since clearly there’s an unpleasant connotation to what he was saying. All parties, however, will meet once again when the UFC lands in Washington, D.C., with a pre-fight press conference scheduled for Friday, June 12, before their June 14 card.
In the meantime, UFC CEO Dana White also shared his thoughts on the altercation at UFC Freedom 250 presser.
Dana White reacts to the altercation between Ilia Topuria and Josh Hokit
UFC CEO Dana White had already watched Khamzat Chimaev kick Sean Strickland on the shin. And then he reacted to the altercation at the presser for UFC Freedom 250 between Hokit and Topuria. He admitted that the promotion was caught off guard by the situation involving Alex Pereira.
“I don’t want any of these guys getting hurt over stupid sh-t that means nothing with guys that are never going to fight each other,” White said. “It’s not like Ilia Topuria and Hokit are going to end up fighting.”
White also explained that he never expected the confrontation to escalate because of Topuria and Pereira’s personalities.
“Ilia and Alex are pretty chill guys normally. Ilia flips out every now and then. We didn’t see that coming.”
It appears Josh Hokit is intent on continuing his charade of being the villain. It might get him to where he wants to be, but if he loses, all that might go away.
