Ian
Garry says he had no intent of starting a feud with Khamzat
Chimaev.
Garry defeated Belal
Muhammad last November, with Arman
Tsarukyan finishing Dan Hooker in
the main event of the same card in Doha, Qatar. Chimaev, who was in
Tsarukyan’s corner, then had an altercation with Garry backstage,
which “The Future” recently revisited.
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Ian Garry recalls Khamzat Chimaev altercation
Garry shook hands with the entire team and also patted Chimaev on
the back. The latter then seemingly felt provoked and pushed Garry
before security stepped in.
Garry recently shared his side of the story, claiming he had no
malicious intent when he was greeting Chimaev and his entire team.
The Irishman also notes that Chimaev didn’t immediately react when
he patted him. Garry claims Chimaev was fired up only after people
stepped in between them. He believes Chimaev would have gotten
physical when they were in proximity if he really wanted to.
“Me and Khamzat aren’t boys,” Garry told Full Send MMA. “When I go
to a team and there’s Arman Tsarukyan tying his shoelace, I said
congrats to him, I said congrats to his other coach and congrats to
one more. And I leave one guy out and I didn’t see him. And I go,
‘Oh sh*t, sorry champ, how are you?’ We were cool, we were fine at
that point. It was only when someone stepped in between us that it
was a problem. If he wanted to suplex me and put me on my skull, he
would have done it when I [leaned on him]. Go watch my body
language again… In no way, shape, or form was it aggressive. It was
purely out of respect; there was no mal intent.”
Chimaev (15-1) lost his middleweight title to Sean
Strickland in a massive upset this past May. The Chechen-born
fighter is now rallying for a rematch against Strickland.
Meanwhile, Garry (17-1) is scheduled to challenge Islam
Makhachev (28-1) for the
Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight title in the main
event of UFC
330 on Aug. 15 at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia.
Ian Machado
Garry gives his side of the Khamzat
Chimaev incident“We were fine until someone stepped in-between us. Go watch my body
language, there was nothing aggressive about it. It was purely out
of respect there was no mal intent. I didn’t start s**t” pic.twitter.com/Me1sO4NuXb— FULL SEND MMA (@full_send_mma)
August 11, 2026