Alex Pereira is continuing to complain about Josh Hokit getting to fight Ciryl Gane for the undisputed heavyweight title at UFC 334 in November.
Pereira has made a career off being the stoic stonefaced assassin who barely says anything, and maybe he should consider going back to that as this new whiny “Poatan” isn’t winning him any new fans. In a new interview with Laerte Viana, Pereira suggested there was a conspiracy involving the UFC to sell Josh Hokit as the most popular option for a title shot over himself.
“The organization said they did some kind of research, some kind of vote, I don’t know, that I didn’t see, and that the public wanted [Gane vs. Hokit]. But after they put this fight together and announced it, I didn’t see it that way … But it’s all kind of manipulated.”
“I saw some things before they made the announcement,” Pereira continued. “Like Cormier and other people saying it would be a good fight. When I talk about influencers, people who have a lot of engagement and followers, many of them were there saying that this fight is good. When they release it, the public will already be comfortable with it because they will agree.”
“So I think they did everything to try to make people believe that this was the fight.”
You expect a fighter to stand up for their own interests and push their own narratives but this is getting ridiculous. Pereira didn’t get the rematch with Gane because Gane beat Pereira in the first round of their fight. Accusations of cheating are just that — accusations — when the official record shows no referee action during the bout.
As for Hokit, he’s one of the most talked about heavyweights in the division now. The UFC doesn’t need to put up a poll, they have the market research and can see what kind of numbers “The Incredible Hok” does. Pereira is just unhappy that Hokit got the title shot and not him. It just comes off as sour grapes.
Pereira will have a chance to earn another shot at the UFC heavyweight title if he beats Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 335 in December.