New Delhi, Nov. 14 -- a promise that his experience would show once they were fighting rather than talking.

Hokit pressed into a nose-to-nose staredown at Friday's ceremonial weigh-ins and urged Gane to remove his sunglasses. The undefeated American then used his final microphone appearance to cast Saturday's heavyweight title fight as a changing of the guard. Gane, heavily booed by the New York audience, declined to match the performance.

Their confrontation left two very different routes to the same championship on display. Gane will make his first defence as undisputed champion at Madison Square Garden on November 14. Hokit reaches the opportunity little more than a year after his UFC debut, carrying an unbeaten record but none of Ga...