Hokit blasts Pereira's rematch push after UFC White House demolition: 'Make them earn it'

Josh Hokit has publicly torn into Alex Pereira’s campaign for a rematch with Ciryl Gane, insisting the former two-division champion has no right to an immediate interim heavyweight title shot after being finished at UFC White House in June.

Hokit, who knocked out Derrick Lewis on that same card, fired off a series of posts on X targeting Pereira and staking his own claim as the next challenger to Gane’s interim belt. He was equally scathing about Ilia Topuria, who was stopped by Justin Gaethje on the same night.

“As a fan, that fight makes no fucking sense,” Hokit wrote. “I watched you get demolished. How about a more favorable match up like Sergei [Pavlovich] who is basically a striker and way less athletic than Ciryl. How about you get one fucking win in this weight class before you are gifted another title shot.”

In a follow-up post, Hokit broadened his criticism to cover both Pereira and Topuria. “Growing up, I loved the UFC and all of its fighters. So it gives me great pleasure to use my platform today to speak the truth: neither Ilia Topuria nor Alex Pereira deserve a fucking title shot in their next fight. They both got handily destroyed. Make them earn it and fight their way back like everyone else.”

Hokit also offered his own theory for why a title unification bout between Gane and undisputed heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall has not materialised, suggesting Aspinall’s manager Eddie Hearn is “obviously” stalling to buy time in contract negotiations. As an alternative, Hokit proposed that he face Gane at the upcoming Madison Square Garden show in New York in November, with Pereira booked against Pavlovich on the same card.

The 31-year-old did not rule out fighting Pereira directly, but made clear his preference is a title fight for financial reasons. “Hell, I’d rather see Alex fight me too,” he wrote. “Truth is, like most contracts, there’s a championship clause. I make a shit ton more money fighting for that belt than taking a regular fight with him. I’ll fight this motherfucker in a parking lot tomorrow. He can’t beat me. But I deserve the title shot if Tom ain’t coming back.”