Alex Pereira’s response to Ciryl Gane being elevated to undisputed heavyweight champion was not subtle. He went on Instagram and treated the promotion like a joke, turning a procedural UFC decision into another public dispute over who really deserves to sit on top of the division.
That reaction matters because Pereira is not simply complaining from a distance. He is a former opponent with a clear grievance, and he used the moment to restate it. In Pereira’s telling, Gane’s rise does not erase what happened in their earlier fight, which he believes was tainted by 10 illegal head shots. His message was blunt: “Same circus, different belt.”
He also broadened the argument by pointing to a heavyweight picture he sees as unsettled. In another post, Pereira referenced Francis Ngannou, Jon Jones and Alexander Volkov, while again casting doubt on the legitimacy of the result against him. The effect was to frame Gane’s promotion not as a clean reset, but as the latest chapter in a division that still feels unresolved.
Why Josh Hokit is in the conversation
Josh Hokit’s name appears because the heavyweight title situation is still open enough for alternative paths to get attention. With Tom Aspinall having vacated the crown after further complications from the eye injury that initially stemmed from Ciryl Gane’s jagged fingernails, the title picture has become more complicated, not less. That leaves room for outside names to be mentioned as the UFC sorts out what comes next.
For Pereira, though, the central issue is simpler: he wants a rematch and does not accept Gane’s promotion as a final answer. Whether the UFC treats that as noise or as momentum, the public challenge is now part of the title conversation. In a division that has already changed hands in messy fashion, Pereira has made sure the debate stays loud.
