Alex Pereira calls out Daniel Cormier and UFC for ‘pushing agenda’ to make Ciryl Gane vs. Josh Hokit

Alex Pereira has called out Daniel Cormier for having ‘opinions that don’t make sense’, claiming that he pushed an agenda about the UFC heavyweight title fight.

After claiming that his fight against Ciryl Gane earlier this year ended due to illegal strikes to the back of his head, Alex Pereira was hopeful of an immediate rematch against the Frenchman for the interim heavyweight title.

Despite that, the promotion announced that ‘Bon Gamin’ will fight Josh Hokit in an undisputed title fight at UFC 334, while it was announced that Pereira will fight Sergei Pavlovich next in the UFC 335 co-main event, which is penciled for five rounds.

‘Poatan’ is still unhappy that he missed out on the heavyweight title fight, and he has turned his frustrations to Daniel Cormier for his part in the making of Gane vs. Hokit.

Tell us how Alex Pereira's second heavyweight fight plays out…

With a win over Pavlovich, the Brazilian will likely earn the opportunity to fight for the title again, potentially fighting the winner of Gane vs. Hokit. And having had time to reflect on the promotion’s decision to make a fight between the aforementioned two, Pereira has criticized the promotion.

“I spoke directly with Hunter (Campbell) and Hunter said this would be the fight, you know, with Gane and Hokit,” Pereira said during an interview with Laerte Viana.

“When I released a video (on my YouTube), I was still expecting, like, man, they wanted to book me, you know? But after that video, the organization said they did kind of a poll, a vote, I didn’t see it, and that the public wanted it, but after they booked this fight and announced it, I didn’t see it that way. At first the organization said they did a poll and stuff and that this would be the fight, you know?”

According to ‘Poatan’, the promotion used influencers and Cormier to ‘manipulate’ the audience into thinking Gane and Hokit were the correct fighters to be fighting for the strap.

“I said, ‘Okay’, I didn’t agree with it but they’re the ones in charge. It’s all kind of manipulated, you know? I saw some things afterwards, even before they released the announcement, like Cormier and other guys saying it would be a good fight. Like, when I say people, it’s influencers, right, people who have a lot of engagement… The UFC were like, ‘Go ahead and say that this fight is good so when we drop it, the public will already be okay with it.’ They did everything to make people believe this is the fight.

“You take Cormier, when I spoke to him, I asked him, ‘Hey, this fight, if I become champion against Gane, am I the champion?’ He said, ‘Well I don’t think so, you have to win’, so the guy has some opinions that don’t make sense… They’re trying to influence people to think that this would be the best fight,” Pereira continued.