Outside Source
Topuria puts his lightweight title on the line against interim champion Justin Gaethje in the main event at UFC Freedom 205 on June 14 at the White House. Meanwhile, Hokit is scheduled to fight Derrick Lewis in a heavyweight tilt on the same card.
Topuria and Hokit got into an altercation during a promotional presser for the event earlier this month in Newark, New Jersey. Hokit launched an unprovoked tirade on Alex Pereira, who fights Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight title on the same card. Pereira and Topuria had traveled together to visit President Donald Trump just ahead of the presser. Topuria, who was sitting next to Pereira, stood up to defend “Poatan” against Hokit’s rant. Things heated up when Topuria threw a glass of water at Hokit. However, security personnel intervened before things could escalate.
‘I Couldn’t Believe It’
Topuria recently opened up about his altercation with Hokit. “El Matador” explains that he was enraged when Hokit insulted Pereira’s mother. While Topuria understands the usual trash talk in MMA, he believes certain boundaries mustn’t be crossed with millions of fans watching. Topuria believes someone could have gotten hurt in the altercation, and he is certain that it wouldn’t have been him.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Topuria said in a recent interview with ABC. “I’ve been in many press conferences, I have seen everything. But I have never seen someone stand up and talk about someone’s mother in such a disrespectful way. It was pretty disrespectful… And for no reason, you’re not even going to fight him. You can talk about the other’s professionalism, you can go after each other, it’s fine, we’re used to it, we know what we’re in for. But talking about someone’s mother in that way just made my blood boil. We can’t set that example here. Millions of people are watching us… Luckily, he had so many security people there because come on, one of the two was going to come out worse off, and it wasn’t going to be me.”
Ilia Topuria y su ‘pelea’ con Josh Hokit en la press conference: “Tuvo suerte de que había seguridad, porque uno de los dos hubiera salido perjudicado y no iba a ser yo” 👀
Adelanto de la entrevista en ABC con el doble campeón de la UFC que se publicará en los próximos días ✅ pic.twitter.com/9qOzLEp1Vh
— Álvaro Colmenero (@KOlmeneroMMA) May 17, 2026
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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