Pereira says Hokit went silent when they met without security at UFC White House press conference

Alex Pereira has called out Josh Hokit’s bravado, claiming the unbeaten American heavyweight fell silent when the two came face to face without security nearby ahead of their shared card at UFC White House: Freedom 250 on June 14.

The bad blood between the two fighters traces back to a press conference in New Jersey last month, where Hokit launched an unprovoked verbal attack on Pereira. The confrontation escalated when Ilia Topuria, seated next to Pereira, stood up and threw a glass of water at Hokit. Hokit was escorted out before the situation could deteriorate further.

For Pereira, the specific nature of Hokit’s comments crossed a clear line. Hokit had said, “I will chama on your mama” — a reference that Pereira says carries particular weight in Brazilian culture, where insulting someone’s mother is considered the ultimate provocation, even among children.

“He did cross the line… I’ve seen guys trash-talk the fighter, the father of the fighter, trash-talk whatever, but never trash-talk the mother,” Pereira told Ariel Helwani. “I don’t know how it’s in America, but in Brazil, on the street code, you never talk about the mother. When growing up, kids talk to each other, fighting this and that, until we talk about the mother. Then even their friends go, ‘Yo, yo, he just talked about your mom.’ And then that’s the last thing to start a fight.”

Pereira says the contrast between Hokit’s public aggression and his private composure was stark. Earlier on the same day as the press conference, the two reportedly came within three feet of each other with no security present. According to Pereira, he said “Chama” to Hokit — who simply looked at him, turned around, and walked away.

“It’s easy to say when there’s a lot of security around there, people to stop anything from happening,” Pereira added. “But earlier that same day, he bumped into me, he was about three feet away from me. He looked at me, I ‘Chama.’ He just looked, turned around, and kept going.”

Hokit (9-0) has since been banned from the official press conference scheduled for June 12 in front of the Lincoln Memorial, though fight-week provocations remain a possibility. Pereira (13-3) meets Ciryl Gane (13-2) for the interim heavyweight title in the co-main event of UFC White House: Freedom 250, while Hokit faces Derrick Lewis (29-13) in a separate heavyweight bout on the same card.