Josh Hokit thinks Ilia Topuria lashed out due to his spotlight being stolen: ‘Eyes should be on him’

Josh Hokit theorizes whether Ilia Topuria felt some pressure to take back control.

In May, Hokit was removed from the UFC White House press conference after his antics caused some drama with the other fighters on the stage.

Hokit then sent a warning to Topuria after the two men got into it following the heavyweight’s criticism of Alex Pereira.

While he’s still somewhat confused by ‘El Matador’ getting out of his seat to defend ‘Poatan’, he has a theory about why this happened.

Josh Hokit theorizes that Ilia Topuria was under pressure due to him stealing the show

It looked like Josh Hokit wouldn’t be at the fight week press conference until the UFC clarified that this was simply an error.

‘The Incredible Hok’ is sure to have some more comments lined up for both Ilia Topuria and Alex Pereira after what happened the last time that they all shared a stage.

In a recent interview, Hokit said that he thinks Topuria might have reacted so strongly towards him because he was stealing the show despite not being in the main event.

“I mean that was surprising,” Hokit told MMA Fighting. “But I’m now looking back at it I’m like, well, you had this guy that was stealing the [show] because he’s supposed to be the main event, and I’m like, now I’m the loudest guy, and maybe now I’m stealing the show from him and maybe he feels that type of pressure where it’s like all the eyes should be on him. And he’s earned that spot, and so he kind of felt like maybe he needed to put himself there.”

Regardless, the rising heavyweight star still thinks Topuria made the wrong move to stand up and defend Pereira.

“I know he [Pereira] understands, at least, the words I was saying. He understands the middle finger flip off. Like he could defend himself. He doesn’t need a little f—— little m—– hobbit, to stand up and protect him. I mean, we’re all fighters at the end of the day. I don’t know what he was thinking.”

In an interview with MMA Fighting, Pereira admitted that he was also surprised by Topuria taking issue with Hokit’s comments about him.

He explained that he thinks ‘El Matador’ reacted this way because he “felt bad” that Hokit was mocking someone that doesn’t speak English and can’t react in the moment due to the need for a translator.

‘Poatan’ said that he didn’t even understand the full extent of what happened until he saw the aftermath of the press conference later.