Sean O’Malley says Josh Hokit was right to call him out for staying silent during the viral UFC White House press conference incident, where Hokit nearly brawled with Alex Pereira and Ilia Topuria — and admitted he was simply too intimidated by who was sitting next to him.
Speaking to MMA Fighting, O’Malley reflected on the moment and Hokit’s subsequent social media call-out, which he only learned about after the fact since he does not use social media.
“Dammit, I’m not on social so I don’t see anything. I know that whole moment went viral and I didn’t see Hokit saying that. Yeah, maybe I should have. When you’re that close to Alex Pereira, you don’t really think like ‘I might talk some shit.’ I’m like I’m going to sit here and f*cking shut up. But you know what, he’s not wrong. I should have been on Team Hokit. He’s absolutely right. Maybe I should have stepped back a few feet and got behind him and then started talking shit.”
O’Malley acknowledged his thought process in the moment before summing up the situation bluntly.
“I think what went through my mind, if I don’t do anything and I just sit here still, it would look hilarious. That was kind of my thought process and it worked out that way. But Hokit was right. I could have spoke up and said something. I f*cked up.”
He was transparent about his reluctance to get caught up in what could have turned physical.
“Two of the greatest knockout artists in the world of all-time, legends sitting within five feet of me, both of them. I wasn’t feeling too gangster right there to say the least. Pereira, I want nothing to f*cking do with that guy.”
A second UFC White House press conference is scheduled for June 12 in Washington D.C. Dana White has said the seating arrangement will be reconsidered following the first incident.