Josh Hokit gets pepper-sprayed in the eyes in the gym after thinking the spray was fake

His training partner, who took a dose too, said it was "like a Ciryl Gane eye poke thing", less than two weeks before Hokit challenges Gane for the UFC heavyweight title.

Josh Hokit and a training partner sprayed each other in the eyes with pepper spray they thought was fake, in a video Hokit posted less than two weeks before he fights Ciryl Gane for the UFC heavyweight title.

The clip, filmed in a gym cage, opens with the partner spraying Hokit in the face. "Oh God, bro, it actually f*** burns! I thought this s*** was fake!" Hokit shouts, screwing his eyes shut.

Hokit then sprays his partner back, who ends up on the mat. "It said it was fake online!" one of them shouts.

The partner, still rubbing his eyes, explained the plan at the end of the video. "The idea was like, we got this fake pepper spray and we were gonna do like mitts after, but it burned into our f*** eyes," he said. "And then he got me with it and God, it was like a Ciryl Gane eye poke thing. And like, oh God, that f*** killed my eyes."

Dominick Cruz has defended Gane over his eye pokes. Gane poked Tom Aspinall in the eye in their UFC heavyweight title fight, later saying he had been trying to push Aspinall's face.

Gane makes his first defence of the undisputed title against Hokit in the UFC 334 main event at Madison Square Garden on 14 November.

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