CIRYL GANE and Josh Hokit took part in a second tense fight week face-off after the UFC 334 press conference.

The pair, 36 and 28 respectively, headline the MMA leader’s penultimate premium event of the year early on Sunday morning.

The build-up to the Madison Square Garden has been far from explosive.

But Hokit upped the ante during Thursday evening’s pre-fight presser at the Infosys Theater.

‘The Incredible’, who came out wearing an eye patch, protective goggles and a towel on the back of his head – in reference to Gane’s previous fouls – aimed several verbal jabs at friendly Frenchman, much to the delight of the crowd.

The ever-cool Gane brushed off the majority of the Americans’ jibes.

That included multiple crass comments about his mother and Hokit whipping up the fans against him.

The pair were squared off by UFC supremo Dana White for their second fight week face-off after the culmination of the presser.

And they stared intently into one another’s eyes before White separated them.

The crowd lapped up the tense staredown, in which Hokit tried his best to get a rise out of his opponent.

UFC 334’S showpiece bout will mark Gane’s first defence of the heavyweight title.

He claimed the interim version of the belt in June with a White House walloping of Alex Pereira, whom he stopped in the second round of their Presidential punch-up.

That win set up a unification bout with Brit Tom Aspinall, which was on course to headline this weekend’s card.

But the fight fell through in September due to Aspinall suffering a setback in his recovery from the multiple surgeries he’s had on his eyes.

The procedures, of course, were the byproduct of Gane’s horror double eye poke in their Abu Dhabi dust-up last October.

Instead of holding up the division, Aspinall opted to vacate the belt, an act which led to Gane’s elevation to full champion status.