Things got physical between UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev and welterweight star Ian Machado Garry backstage at UFC Fight Night in Qatar on Saturday.
Garry beat Belal Muhammad in the co-main event before Arman Tsarukyan, with Chimaev in his corner, defeated Dan Hooker in the main event.
Afterward, Garry was seen on video patting Chimaev on the back and congratulating him, telling him, “Good job tonight.” While everything seemed to be friendly at first, security stepped between them. Garry said Chimaev was “not gonna fight me,” before asking Chimaev what was wrong, which prompted Chimaev to push Garry:
As multiple people separated them, Chimaev said, “I’m gonna f–k you up, b—h,” and Garry called him “childish.”
Chimaev, 31, is ranked fourth in UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings thanks to his perfect 15-0 record.
In his most recent fight at UFC 319 in August, Chimaev beat Dricus du Plessis to become UFC middleweight champion for the first time.
The 28-year-old Garry scored the biggest victory of his career Saturday, improving to 17-1 in the process. It marked his second consecutive win since suffering his first career loss to Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310 last year.
While that loss was a welterweight title eliminator, Garry has worked his way back up, sitting sixth in the UFC welterweight rankings.
Muhammad had been second in those same rankings, so it is fair to wonder if a title bout against Islam Makhachev could be in Garry’s future.
When it comes to UFC, the possibility of a staged situation to set up a future fight can never be completely ruled out, and based on the way things escalated between Chimaev and Garry, there is little doubt that people will speculate about whether they conspired to build toward a fight against each other.
Garry is only one weight class above Chimaev, so it isn’t at all outside the realm of possibility that Chimaev could move up or Garry could move down in order to challenge for the middleweight title.
If nothing else, Chimaev and Garry seem to have piqued the interest of fight fans, so even if a bout between them doesn’t happen, observers will be watching closely to see what moves both of them make next.
Source link
