UFC president Dana White says he doesn't like Josh Hokit's "shtick" but he has earned his heavyweight title shot against Ciryl Gane.
American Hokit will face Frenchman Gane for the undisputed heavyweight title at UFC 334 at New York's Madison Square Garden on Saturday.
Hokit is a controversial fighter, who in a similar vein to Colby Covington, adopts various personas during interviews to generate attention from fans.
He has been accused of overstepping the line into discrimination, however, after making racially aggravated and misogynistic comments in his post-UFC 324 interview in January.
After Hokit directed misogynistic comments towards former First Lady Michelle Obama in June, UFC president Dana White described his words as "gross", "moronic", and "inappropriate".
Hokit directed more crude jokes towards his fellow fighters during a news conference to promote UFC 334, but White defended the 29-year-old.
"You know how I feel about shtick, I don't like them, I don't like his shtick, but for anyone to say he doesn't deserve this fight is crazy," said White.
"He earned this fight, that he absolutely did."
Hokit will fight for the heavyweight title despite only making his UFC debut one year ago.
Since then he has won four fights in the promotion, to extend his unbeaten record to 10.
Some critics have argued he doesn't deserve a title shot yet in place of fighters such as Alexander Volkov, and he has been awarded it because his controversial comments generate attention.
Gane, who is defending the belt for the first time since being upgraded to undisputed heavyweight champion in September when Tom Aspinall vacated the title, disagrees.
"Honestly he deserves it, he's a great athlete, he's done very well, and he has a big mouth also that is good for the business," said Gane.
"This is his character. I understand it, and I'm comfortable with it."
Hokit poked fun at the 36-year-old Frenchman during the news conference by wearing goggles and an eye patch, in reference to Gane's fight with Aspinall in 2025.
The bout ended in a no-contest after eye-pokes from Gane left Aspinall unable to continue.
Aspinall later accused Gane of cheating, but the Frenchman says it was accidental.
Gane consistently saw the funny side to Hokit's antics, as he laughed off the majority of comments from the challenger.
"He's a smart guy, people underestimate him. He's a good fighter also, he's a good wrestler and I think he has a good fight IQ," Gane told BBC Sport.
"He creates the character and that's smart, this is a business also. But he's not here only because of that that, he's also 10-0 and on a good run."
It's an opinion Hokit agrees with.
"Men lie, women lie, numbers don't, I earned my spot and this position, and I'm grateful for it," said Hokit.
The co-main event features Kayla Harrison defending the women's bantamweight title against returning hall-of-famer Amanda Nunes.
American Harrison is fighting for the first time since neck and spinal surgery in January, while Brazil's Nunes is coming out of retirement after leaving the sport and her glittering career behind in 2023.
Nunes is a former bantamweight and featherweight champion and is widely regarded as one of the best mixed martial artists of all time.
The pair used to be team-mates at American Top Team Gym before Nunes left in 2022, but got involved in a heated back and forth in the news conference.
"Look in my eyes. If you don't respect that I can beat you on Saturday, you're not supposed to be a champion," said Nunes.
Harrison responded by saying: "I respect everyone, but fear no-one," as the pair argued for almost two minutes.
White later had to guide Harrison away as the pair went face to face in an intense stare-down.
Earlier White criticised fighters Usman Nurmagomedov and Merab Dvalishvili for their part in a mass brawl in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday which led to 10 arrests.
A video of the incident appeared to show Russian Nurmagomedov slap Dvalishvili after approaching the Georgian from behind.
Fighting then broke out between the two and members of their teams in a hotel lobby, with Abu Dhabi police confirming the arrests.
White called the altercation "ridiculous" and "stupid", and referred to the participants as "a bunch of idiots".
