It was all fun till Josh Hokit teased, taunted, and mocked Alex Pereira, accusing him of receiving royal treatment from the UFC. Yet, when the moment of truth came, the former fullback-turned-MMA fighter has now stated that he has a few conditions before he steps into the cage against the former two-division UFC champion.

“Can we let Alex get a little bit of his aura back first? I was teeing him up to be my Jose Aldo-Conor moment, and he went out and became Ciryl Gane’s easiest win in 5 years,” Hokit’s posited on X. “But since UFC was about to make Alex the GOAT if he won, if he & I are next, it should be for the BMF.”

The heavyweight contender’s reference to McGregor’s 13-second over Aldo, a Brazilian like Pereira and Gane’s resume, draws from two lines of argument. The first, and perhaps the more immediate, is Glover Teixeira‘s comments on Ariel Helwani’s show yesterday.

Referring to Alex Pereira’s comeback fight following the knockout loss to Gane on the White House card in June, his coach Glover Teixeira admitted their ultimate goal is the heavyweight title, which will make Pereira the first fighter in UFC history to become a three-division champion.

So, to reach that objective, they are looking forward to a matchup that acts as a stepping stone.

In that mix, Josh Hokit’s name, he confessed, remains prominent. With his rabble-rousing, including the instance where he needled Pereira in the lead-up to the White House event, Hokit has used every opportunity to take potshots at the former two-division champion.

For Pereira and Teixeira, that rivalry could potentially shape up as a good matchup. A win over an unbeaten and rising UFC star would raise Pereira’s stock considerably, to the extent that he could claim a shot at the title once again.

As much as he wants to pop that bubble of a narrative where the Brazilian might be considering him an easy game to further his interests, Josh Hokit has another point to prove.

One of the most important reasons behind his picking Alex Pereira as a target is the UFC’s perceived attempt at projecting him as the GOAT.

Unable to align himself with CEO Dana White, who described Pereira as the greatest of all time, Hokit told Ariel Helwani during an appearance, “I mean, Pereira’s career is what everyone says it is. It’s like he was fighting for his third title, and they say he’s going to go down as the greatest of all time. I mean, the accolades, if we are talking about the belts, yes, no one has done that. But I feel like all of his matchups have been favorable matchups. He hasn’t faced anybody with my skill set or even the wrestling pedigree.”

Taken together, Hokit likely feels that Pereira’s team could no longer ignore him, and now he has an opportunity to break the projected myth surrounding the Brazilian. A win would raise his stock, put him closer to a title shot, and make him an even bigger name in the MMA world.

Even so, if anyone thought Hokit would be done with just the BMF bet, they might have been proven wrong, because the following comments highlighted the scope of his ambitions.

“Either give me Ciryl for the title or Alex for the BMF,” he stated a few hours after the above post. “Tired of watching these little crotch sniffers lay & pray & people call them the BMF/P4P. You can’t have those titles & just hold guys down without doing damage. Whoever I fight, the fans will get pure violence with a show.”

To set the record straight, it may not be entirely the first time Hokit has come up with such a plan.

Josh Hokit wants to test Alex Pereira’s aura

Early last month, as reports revealed heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall contemplating a possible return, with a rematch against Ciryl Gane, now holding the division’s interim title, likely to take place, Hokit jumped into the mix with a suggestion of his own.

Describing Gane as an undisputed champion, since he “made” Aspinall quit in fall last year, and considering the back-and-forth between Dana White and Eddie Hearn, who manages the English champion through his talent agency, Hokit suggested that, first, the UFC should “cut” Aspinall, and then he could face Gane in September.

Confident that he will win that bout, he stated that he would give Pereira “a chance to get his self-esteem back in Nov/Dec.”

Therefore, by giving an opportunity to one of the biggest stars in the UFC, Hokit will be hailed as a champion who, unlike many, has weathered the storm by facing everyone instead of shying away from specific names.

Against that history, the ball has now landed in Hokit’s court, given that he has received an open callout from Team Pereira.

If the Brazilian pushes for the matchup, the spotlight will be on Hokit to prove whether he is dilly-dallying by setting up conditions that may or may not be accorded, or whether he will just enter the fight without any excuses and really show that he is willing to take on anyone who comes his way on the road to the championship.