Ilia Topuria And Josh Hokit’s Heated Exchange At UFC Freedom 250 Press Conference
Things got heated between undefeated heavyweight Josh Hokit and lightweight champion Ilia Topuria at the UFC Freedom 250 press conference on Friday.
While UFC Freedom 250 is set to go down from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., this promotional press conference was hosted inside the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, just prior to the UFC 328 ceremonial weigh-ins ahead of the matches in the same venue tomorrow evening.
In the main event at the White House, Ilia Topuria is set to defend his title against Justin Gaethje, who secured interim championship status with his unanimous decision victory over Paddy Pimblett earlier this year. Meanwhile, Josh Hokit will compete in the opening bout of the evening against the division’s knockout king, Derrick Lewis.
During the press conference, Josh Hokit interupted Alex Pereira’s translator when he was delivering the former light heavyweight champion’s response to a question. As he began to throw verbal jabs towards Pereira, it was clear that Hokit had this planned all along as he no doubt intends on trying to set up an eventual match with ‘Poatan’ now that he is making his debut in the heavyweight division on the card against Ciryl Gane for the interim title.
While Pereira sat calmy, not allowing Hokit to get under his skin, lightweight champion Ilia Topuria jumped up and began to fire back at the brash American. If security wasn’t on their game in that very moment, there could have been a full-blown brawl tonight in Newark, as security needed to physically separate the fighters as they tried to make their way to one another.
UFC Freedom 250 is scheduled for June 14th, and will feature seven fights at the White House, with the ceremonial weigh-ins taking place at the Lincoln Memorial.
UFC Freedom 250 Full Card:
- Ilia Topuria vs. Justin Gaethje – Lightweight Title Unification
- Alex Pereira vs. Ciryl Gane – Interim Heavyweight Title
- Sean O’Malley vs. Aiemann Zahabi – Bantamweight
- Mauricio Ruffy vs. Michael Chandler – Lightweight
- Bo Nickal vs. Kyle Daukaus – Middleweight
- Diego Lopes vs. Steve Garcia – Featherweight
- Derrick Lewis vs. Josh Hokit – Heavyweight