Alex Pereirahad no idea what was going on when Josh Hokit was talking trash to him.
During theUFC Freedom 250pre-fight press conference earlier this month, rising heavyweight star Hokit took aim at former champion Pereira, who doesn't speak English. UFC lightweight championIlia Topuriajumped 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."
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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. "(I'm) just going to stay cool and composed like I always am. If on fight week this guy is able to get to me to try and do anything, it's just messed up by the organization. I'm going to stay the same."
Pereira meets Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight title in the UFC Freedom 250 co-main event on June 14. Meanwhile, Hokit takes on former title challenger Derrick Lewis. Topuria headlines the event when he takes on interim champ Justin Gaethje in a title-unification bout.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie:UFC Freedom 250: Alex Pereira dismisses Josh Hokit presser nonsense