JON JONES and Ciryl Gane took part in a heated final staredown ahead of their heavyweight title fight.
The duo, 35 and 32 respectively, will throw down for the vacant heavyweight title in the main event of UFC 285 in Las Vegas.
Jon Jones and Ciryl Gane faced off for the final time ahead of their UFC 285 clashGETTY
The pair took part in a semi-intense staredown during Thursday’s pre-fight press conference at the MGM Grand Garden’s KA Theater on Thursday.
But it was a lot tenser the second time around.
Gane, who weighed in a 247lbs, took the scale first for the ceremonial weigh-ins and had to deal with a cascade of boos.
The Frenchman lapped them up and showed no sign of being rattled by the pro-Jones crowd as he waited for his opponent.
UFC legend Jones came out to a chorus of cheers from the raucous crowd and chants of his name.
And the fans went into a tizzy as he hit the ceremonial scale.
But their anticipation for the fight, and that of MMA fans around the world, really blew up when the pair went face-to-face for the final time before fight night.
During Thursday’s pre-fight press conference, he said: “I respect Ciryl Gane, I really do.
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“But I study film constantly and I just see a lot of patterns.
“When he’s in one stance, there’s things he really loves to do.
“He goes to the same well a lot. When he’s in the opposite stance, he has his tendencies.
“Outside of that, I realized that he doesn’t have much wrestling.
“He relies on evasion, trying to get away. He relies on jiu-jitsu instead of solid takedown defense, and same with the ground game.
” I watched Francis Ngannou be able to rack up maybe five, six minutes of top time in that fight, and Francis is not a guy that’s known to control people on the top.
“He does have the striking down. I don’t think defensively he’s a very strong kickboxer. He has a really nice offense.
“Like I said, his defense is mainly in his footwork, and two other big holes are jiu-jitsu and wrestling.”