Sean O’Malley says he should have backed Josh Hokit during the heated UFC White House press conference altercation with Alex Pereira and Ilia Topuria ahead of the June 14 card.
Hokit nearly sparked a brawl with Pereira and Topuria at the presser, with O’Malley seated between them and staying quiet. Afterward, Hokit took to Twitter to call him out, writing, "Imagine having the opportunity of a lifetime, set up by me perfectly to back your fellow American and call your shot but the moment passes you by because you are simply ‘too cool,’" and adding, "We’ll all be on our death bed one day… hopefully he doesn’t regret that."
O’Malley later responded, explaining, "Dammit, I’m not on social so I don’t see anything," and acknowledged his mistake. "I know that whole moment went viral and I didn’t see Hokit saying that. Yeah, maybe I should have. When you’re that close to Alex Pereira, you don’t really think like ‘I might talk some shit.’ I’m like I’m going to sit here and f*cking shut up." He added, "But you know what, he’s not wrong. I should have been on Team Hokit. He’s absolutely right. Maybe I should have stepped back a few feet and got behind him and then started talking shit. I f*cked up."
With another UFC White House press conference set for June 12 in Washington D.C., Dana White "he’s going to rethink the seating arrangement to ensure none of Hokit’s antics spill over into an actual brawl just days away from one of the biggest events in the company’s history." O’Malley, a former UFC bantamweight champion, is now turning his attention to Aiemann Zahabi, saying, "Absolutely, I’ll focus my energy on Aiemann," while noting, "Maybe a little Topuria. Pereira, I want nothing to f*cking do with that guy."
