UFC fans reckon Ciryl Gane has shot himself in the foot with an honest admission just days before his first outing as heavyweight champion.

The Frenchman, who was elevated from interim to undisputed champion in September following Tom Aspinall‘s vacating of the belt due to a setback in his recovery from injury, makes his maiden defence of the belt this weekend.

Gane will headline the promotion’s annual visit to New York City early on Sunday morning in a Madison Square Garden melee against Josh Hokit.

Hokit punched his ticket to a title shot with a White House walloping of Derrick Lewis, which he followed up with a disgusting post-fight jibe at former First Lady Michelle Obama.

The former American football player has shown during his brief stint in the UFC that he’s not afraid to touch on any topic.

Gane doesn’t foresee himself getting riled up by Hokit’s antics, unless the surprisingly popular heavyweight says something about his mother.

He told RMC: “He does what he wants to do; I don’t control it.

“But no, you can insult my mom, but you don’t know my mom.

“You understand what I mean? What it does to me, not only in MMA, it’s always been that way.

“And good. There is not much you can say to attack me. In reality, there’s not much you can do to get at me.”

Fight fans were blown away by the Frenchman’s admission, which they reckon Hokit will seize upon during Wednesday’s pre-fight press conference.

One wrote on X: “You just know Hokit is cooking up something crazy to say now after hearing this.”

Another said: “Why would he say this 😂😂😂 Hotkit is going to call his Mum a w***e now.”

And another said: “Does he not realise what he just did?”

One remarked: “Why would you tell him the exact thing that would p**s you off😂🤦 cmon bro.”

Anotyer said: “Rookie Mistake.”

Should Gane get his hand raised this weekend, it will be the first time he’s won an undisputed heavyweight title fight.

He came up short in his bouts with Francis Ngannou and Jon Jones, which he lost via unanimous decision and first-round submission, respectively.

And his third crack at the belt against Aspinall ended in a no contest due to his horrific double eye poke on the Brit, who has had to undergo FOUR surgeries to try to correct his vision.