Alex Pereira dismisses Josh Hokit nonsense at UFC Freedom 250 press conference
Alex Pereira had no idea what was going on when Josh Hokit was talking trash to him. During the UFC Freedom 250 pre-fight press conference earlier this month, rising heavyweight star Hokit took aim at former champion Pereira, who doesn't speak English. UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria jumped to Pereira's defense by tossing an object toward Hokit.
Pereira, who was on Topuria's private plane to visit the White House ahead of their respective fights, reacted to the altercation . "You guys saw it there. I don't understand English, and I think Topuria felt that he saw that, and he stepped up as a brother," Pereira told MMA Junkie through an interpreter.
"Threw the bottle or whatever the case was on Hokit's face. You saw that he was going too far. To Hokit, how am I going to even talk about that guy?
Maybe he's one of those that doesn't even get along with his family. You see how that guy has attitude. Maybe he doesn't get along with his brother, stuff like that.
" The incident resulted in Hokit being escorted out of the press conference and the event ending prematurely. Pereira expects a lot more security when the pair cross paths again during fight week, but he doesn't plan on engaging Hokit. "Fight week, after this, we're probably going to have a lot of people around not letting anything happen," Pereira said.