Ilia Topuria has detailed why he lashed out at Josh Hokit while defending Alex Pereira during the UFC Freedom 250 press conference.
Topuria, the undefeated UFC lightweight champion, threw an object toward Hokit after the heavyweight prospect trash talked Pereira ahead of Hokit's June 14 fight with Derrick Lewis at the White House. Topuria is set to headline UFC Freedom 250 in a title-unification bout against Justin Gaethje, with Pereira facing Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight belt in the co-main event.
Topuria said he was stunned by Hokit's comments about Pereira's family. "I couldn't believe it," Topuria said. "Look, I've been at many press conferences. I've seen everything, but I've never seen anyone stand up and talk about someone's mother in such a disrespectful way. It was pretty disrespectful. Since there was so much noise, you couldn't hear much. I said, I can't believe he's saying all this stuff for no reason because you're not even going to fight him."
Topuria added that the line was crossed for him when family became the target. "I mean, what for? 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. How are you talking? Lucky 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."
Hokit responded to the backlash over his remarks. "You'd never survive at a middle school lunch table in America then. You sheltered little boy, I said I'm gonna Chama on his Mama. If that;s so bad, then that begs the question, what does 'Chama' even mean," Hokit said, later adding, "I'd be upset too if I wasn't tall enough to ride the Disneyland rides."
