2026 has already been quite the year for Josh Hokit in the UFC. He defeated Denzel Freeman at UFC 324 in January, before going to war with Curtis Blaydes at UFC 327 three months later in what is already considered by many to be one of the best heavyweight fights in UFC history. The fight was so critically acclaimed that Hokit earned himself a spot on the UFC Freedom 250 card at The White House in June, but his attempts at character work ended up with him being kicked out of the press conference designed to promote the biggest UFC event of all time.

Ilia Topuria just had to be HELD BACK by security after Josh Hokit disrespected Alex Pereira and said he’s gonna “Chama on his mama”

Bottles thrown and the presser shut down 🤯 pic.twitter.com/mFMiFWUg78

— Happy Punch (@HappyPunch) May 8, 2026

During the press conference, Hokit repeatedly took shots at former UFC Middleweight and Light Heavyweight Champion Alex Pereira, even going as far as to insult Pereira’s mother. While Pereira remained calm, primarily because the translator didn’t tell him the exact details of what Hokit said, one person who did take Hokit’s comments personally was UFC Lightweight Champion Ilia Topuria, who stood up for Pereira instead. Topuria would tell Hokit to shut up, which caused Hokit to call Topuria a “midget” who wouldn’t do anything. Topuria proceeded to throw an object directly at Hokit’s face, who was escorted off stage while still throwing insults at Pereira and Topuria, this time making fun of Topuria’s ex-wife.

Hokit was escorted out of the building as he was not allowed to do his face-off with his opponent for UFC Freedom 250, Derrick Lewis, with that being the only stare-down that didn’t happen in front of the live audience. Hokit would keep himself busy over the weekend as he almost got into a fight with Paulo Costa at UFC 328, but despite all of these disturbances, Hokit is still set to compete on The White House lawn.