Josh Hokit wasn’t so tough without security around

Pereira (13-3) fights Ciryl Gane
(13-2) for the interim heavyweight title in the co-headliner of

UFC White House: Freedom 250 on June 14. Hokit (9-0) also takes
on Derrick
Lewis (29-13) in a heavyweight tilt on the same card.

During a press conference for the card last month in New Jersey,
Hokit went on an unprovoked rant on Pereira. Ilia
Topuria, who was sitting next to Pereira, stood up in his
defense and threw a glass of water at Hokit. The American
heavyweight was escorted out of the presser before things could
escalate. Pereira believes Hokit crossed a line when he said, “I
will chama on your mama.’ While Pereira has heard a lot of trash
talk over the years, he believes people rarely bring up their
opponents’ mothers. In Pereira’s home country of Brazil, even
between kids, all is fun and games until someone’s mother is
mentioned.

Hokit has now been banned from the official press conference for
the event on June 12 in front of the Lincoln Memorial. However,
there is still a chance of Hokit trying to instigate trouble during
fight week. Pereira notes that it is easy for Hokit to run his
mouth when there is security on standby, ready to intervene.
However, Pereira claims he ran into Hokit ahead of their clash at
the press conference last month. According to Pereira, he said
“Chama” to Hokit, who allegedly just turned and walked away.

“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… It’s easy to say when
there’s a lot of security around there, people to stop anything
from happening. 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.”