Josh Hokit decided the best way to get ready for Ciryl Gane’s fingers was to take a face full of pepper spray, on purpose, on camera.
The heavyweight posted the clip from training camp on his X account, and Championship Rounds pushed it around the internet Saturday night. Hokit framed the stunt as preparation for the eye pokes he’s expecting when he challenges Gane for the UFC heavyweight title. His verdict was short.
“It actually fcking burns. I thought this sht was fake.”
View post on X
Fair. Most of us were willing to take that one on faith.
The bit works because Gane has history. His title fight with Tom Aspinall at UFC 321 in October 2025 ended in a no-contest after Gane poked Aspinall in the eyes. Aspinall has since had multiple eye surgeries and hasn’t been back. Gane went on to knock out Alex Pereira in the second round at UFC White House on June 14 to win the interim belt, and with Aspinall out of the picture, Gane is now the undisputed champ.
The Pereira win came with its own baggage. Gane landed some illegal shots to the back of the head during the finishing flurry, and this week the UFC released corner footage in which Pereira’s head coach, Plinio Cruz, can be heard screaming “back of the head” at referee Herb Dean. Pereira has been loud about blaming Dean for letting the fouls go unpunished. He gets Sergei Pavlovich in the UFC 335 co-main event in December.
View post on X
Gane does have defenders. On Dominick Cruz’s Love & War podcast, Cruz and T.J. Dillashaw pushed back on the cheater label. Dillashaw said Gane’s opponents get poked because they stand right in front of him, and Cruz agreed, saying he never took many eye pokes or groin shots in his own career.
“I always said if you can poke me in my f*cking eye, I’m doing something wrong,” Cruz said.
Dillashaw, who served a two-year suspension after testing positive for a banned substance in 2019, said the criticism took off after the Pereira fight and that the Pereira fans wanted somebody to blame. “I don’t think [Gane] is a purposeful cheater at all,” he said.
View post on X
Gane makes his first title defense against Hokit in the main event of UFC 334 on Nov. 14 at Madison Square Garden.
My take: I love it, even if the science is shaky. Pepper spray won’t teach your cornea to shrug off a fingernail, and Cruz would tell Hokit the real prep is keeping his head off the center line. But a challenger who gets the Garden main event and spends camp trolling the champ’s worst habit with his own tear ducts is exactly the kind of heavyweight I want in that cage. He gets his answer Nov. 14, hopefully with both eyes open.
