Alex Pereira is not letting this one go quietly. After the UFC booked Ciryl Gane's next heavyweight title defense against Josh Hokit instead of giving him an immediate rematch, Pereira accused the promotion's top brass of working behind the scenes to manipulate public opinion in favor of the Gane-Hokit fight, specifically calling out commentators and influencers like Daniel Cormier.

Dana White was not having it. Asked about the claim, White said he does not tell anybody what to say, and according to he dismissed Pereira's theory as simply paranoid. Cormier addressed it directly in a video on his YouTube channel, flatly denying that the UFC ever gave him marching orders. "I was not instructed," Cormier said, rejecting the idea that his commentary was coordinated by the promotion.

Hokit, for his part, did not take the accusation lying down. The heavyweight contender hit back hard at Pereira in his own response, making clear he was not interested in letting the claim stand unanswered. He also had words for Bruce Buffer after the longtime UFC announcer criticized him, though Hokit pushed back on that as well.

The backdrop here is simple. Hokit, ranked fourth in the division after stopping Derrick Lewis in his last outing, sits at plus-216 with a 29 percent model lean. Pereira, meanwhile, has already been rerouted to a December 12 booking against Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 335, priced at plus-178 with a 41 percent model lean of his own.