Dana White Defends Josh Hokit Title Shot Over Alex Pereira
Dana White rejected the idea that Alex Pereira should have received the rematch with Ciryl Gane on star power alone. Asked why Josh Hokit was the choice for the New York heavyweight title fight, White said the UFC books the fighter who deserves the spot, and he said the first meeting did not leave fans demanding a second one.
The question came in a media scrum in front of a UFC backdrop. A reporter told White that Pereira has been claiming the rematch against Gane in New York and asked why Hokit was the logical opponent instead. White first checked the premise. “Is that what we announced?” he said. The reporter said yes.
White then turned the question around.
“Who do you think should have been the choice?” he asked. The reporter said he does not make the fights. “I agree. You’re asking me the question, though,” White said. “Where, where does that question come from? What, where, what do you, what do you think we should have done?”
The reporter offered Pereira. “I don’t know, maybe Alex Pereira, because of the star power he has, he could have got a rematch,” he said. White stopped on that phrase. “Because, becau, he could have got the rematch because of what?” he asked. The reporter answered, “Star power.” White repeated it. “Star, star power? We make fights based on star power?”
The reporter said that was what he had been thinking. White drew the line he wanted on the record.
“We make fights based on who is the best in the world, who, who, who deserves, to be there,” he said. He then pointed at Pereira’s last result. “And, and he’s coming off a loss right now against [Ciryl Gane]. This is the fight to make.”
Gane stopped Pereira by TKO on June 14 at UFC Freedom 250 on the White House grounds, a win that made the Frenchman interim heavyweight champion for a second time. After Tom Aspinall vacated the undisputed belt while recovering from eye surgery, the UFC elevated Gane and booked his first defense against Hokit. That fight headlines UFC 334 on November 14 at Madison Square Garden.
White used the first fight as the reason a rematch was not automatic. “If I, if I do the rematch, we all just saw the fight,” he said. “And it wasn’t like, holy sh*t, that was a knockdown, and the, and the fans are demanding a rematch, you know.” He closed the exchange by saying he is happy with the booking.
Hokit is 10-0 and ranked as a top heavyweight contender heading into his first main event. Gane is 14-2 and will be defending the undisputed title for the first time. Pereira, who was stopped in that White House fight, is the name the reporter kept returning to, and White treated that as a star-power argument rather than a ranking one.
The exchange does not include a new callout from Pereira, and White did not say the Brazilian is out of the division. He said the fight that was announced is the one he wants, because Gane is the champion and Hokit is the opponent he believes earned the shot. UFC 334 is the date that booking now has to answer, with Gane’s first undisputed defense set for Madison Square Garden on November 14.
