Pereira Claims UFC Used Cormier and 'Influencers' to Sell Gane vs. Hokit

Alex Pereira wanted the Ciryl Gane rematch. He didn't get it. After Gane stopped him in the second round for the interim heavyweight title at the UFC's White House card in June, the UFC skipped the do-over and booked Gane against undefeated newcomer Josh Hokit for UFC 334 on Nov. 14. Pereira's response: the whole thing was engineered.

Speaking with Laerte Viana, Pereira said the promotion told him they'd run a poll and that Gane vs. Hokit was the fight. He didn't agree, but accepted it. What rubbed him the wrong way was what came before the announcement — commentators and big-name personalities, Daniel Cormier among them, publicly talking up the matchup. Pereira framed it as a coordinated push to soften up the audience so the booking landed clean.

The Cormier Factor

Pereira and Cormier have a friendly history — the backstage wrestling bits at fight week are a running gag. That didn't stop Pereira from calling Cormier's take on Hokit senseless. He pointed to a conversation where he asked whether beating Gane would make him champion, and says Cormier told him he didn't think so. In Pereira's telling, that's an opinion that doesn't add up, and he questioned what Hokit — now 4-0 in the UFC after knocking out Derrick Lewis on the same June card — has actually done to earn a title shot.

His broader argument is about reach. The way Pereira sees it, the UFC leans on people with large followings to seed an idea early, so fans already agree with the matchup by the time it's official. He called it manipulation, plain and simple. Either that, he suggested, or Cormier genuinely believes this is the best fight available — which Pereira finds hard to swallow.

Where Everyone Lands Next

The timing stings for Pereira because he committed to staying at heavyweight to chase a third divisional belt, having already held gold at middleweight and light heavyweight. Instead of the rematch, he's booked against Sergei Pavlovich on Dec. 12 at T-Mobile Arena, co-headlining UFC 335. Gane and Hokit, meanwhile, get Madison Square Garden and the undisputed strap, with Tom Aspinall still shelved by an eye injury.

Pereira's heavyweight ledger isn't the point here — he's listed at 13-4 with 11 knockouts and still ranks among the division's heavy hitters. But rankings don't book fights, narratives do, and that's exactly what Pereira is complaining about. He lost to Gane, he wanted it back, and the UFC moved on without him. Beating Pavlovich is the only argument that gets him back in the room.