The UFC White House press conference ahead of UFC 328 on Saturday nearly went off the rails when Josh Hokit decided to start insulting Alex Pereira, who doesn’t speak much English, and UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria took up for him during the altercation.
The bizarre encounter ended with Topuria actually launching an object at Hokit and security pulling the controversial heavyweight off stage before escorting him out of the press conference entirely. All of the parties involved are scheduled
to share the dais together again when the UFC lands in Washington, D.C., with a pre-fight press conference scheduled for Friday, June 12 ahead of the June 14 card.
UFC CEO Dana White reacted to the mayhem that unfolded just a day after he watched Khamzat Chimaev kick Sean Strickland during a faceoff at a completely separate press conference.
“I don’t want any of these guys getting hurt over stupid shit that means nothing with guys that are never going to fight each other,” White said at the UFC 328 post-fight press conference. “It’s not like Ilia Topuria and Hokit are going to end up fighting.
“I think that whole thing [Hokit does] is goofy anyway but the guy went out and performed. An unranked guy went in and beat the No. 5 guy in the world.”
White is referencing Hokit’s win over Curtis Blaydes at UFC 327 that vaulted him to a top 10 spot in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings and put him in a position to face Derrick Lewis at the UFC White House card in June.
But ever since he arrived in the UFC, Hokit has shown a tendency create chaos wherever he goes.
He got into a verbal altercation with Jiri Prochazka ahead of UFC 327 and then Saturday night, security had to separate Hokit and Paulo Costa after they got into a war of words in the crowd during UFC 328.
White doesn’t enjoy any of that, but promises the UFC is going to be better prepared for whatever might happen during UFC White House fight week.
Truth be told, White just didn’t know that Hokit was going to end up in an altercation with Topuria when the fighters were seated just a few feet apart, which only amplified the tension between them in that moment.
“Ilia and Alex are pretty chill guys normally,” White said. “Ilia flips out every now and then. We didn’t see that coming. They’re all sitting next to each other in the same row. [Sean] O’Malley scoots back, and I’m just like ‘you’ve got to be f*cking kidding me right now.’
“Because all I was worried about was the weigh-ins and not anything happening there [between Khamzat Chimaev and Strickland]. But we’ll be ready for it. This is the business we’re in.”
