JOSH HOKIT plans to fight fire with fire if he’s on the receiving end of any fouls from Ciryl Gane.

The American will challenge Gane for the heavyweight title in the main event of UFC 334 in New York in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Gane goes into his maiden defence of the heavyweight crown after two consecutive controversial bouts.

The Frenchman’s crack at the title against Tom Aspinall last October ended in a no-contest due to a horrific double eye poke late in the first round of their Abu Dhabi dust-up.

And he accidentally landed a number of strikes to the back of Alex Pereira‘s head in their White House war in June, which he won via second-round TKO to claim the interim heavyweight crown.

Hokit has mentally prepared himself to be on the receiving end of a potential illegal blow from Gane, which he plans to return in double-quick time.

He told UFC on Paramount: “I don’t even want to put too much thought into it.

“But my mentality is, I mean, if he hits me in the back of the head, I’m hitting him, I’m poking him in the eyes.

“He pokes me in the eyes, I hit him low. He hits me low; I’ve got to stab him now.

“He stabs me, I’m shooting him.”

The controversial Hokit, who made a vile jibe at former First Lady Michelle Obama after victory over Derrick Lewis at the White House in June, continued: “That’s the mentality, at least.

“If he pokes me in the eye, it is what it is. I’ll fight blind. I don’t care.”

Hokit fights for the heavyweight strap just FOUR FIGHTS into his UFC career.

And that’s despite UFC bigwig Dana White deliberately throwing him some tough opponents as punishment for his controversial schtick.

During an appearance on The Jim Rome Show, the veteran promoter said: “Hokit (vs. Gane) was the fight to make.

“Hokit has been overlooked the entire time, not only by the fans and media, but by me.

“I didn’t like some of the things he said, so I might have thre