Iranian Hulk has denied claims he has faked a rivalry with Martyn Ford ahead of their fight next month.
Iranian Hulk- real named Sajad Gharibi- and Ford will finally settle their war of words on April 30 at The O2 Arena in their respective boxing debuts. A fiery confrontation unfolded at the first face-off in Dubai with the British star sending his rival 'flying', after being visibly angered.
Another heated altercation took place during the closing stages of their press conference with the pair sat on a deliberately long desk to prevent further attacks. The 'Iranian Hulk' stood up angered by Ford's comments throwing a tub of popcorn at the floor before making an advance at Ford.
He was promptly removed by security who raced into the room to prevent any further violent scenes marring the build-up. The Iranian star shouted: "Do you want to fight right now? Do you want to show how strong you were yesterday?"
Ford remained seated with a blank facial expression as he refused to be drawn into any further confrontation with the Iranian star making a death threat to his rival, shouting in English: "I will kill you." After the furious strongman had been carried away, Ford remained at the table before Gharibi returned to collect his belongings.
The British star spoke to his opponent and joked about the popcorn on the floor: "Don't tread that popcorn into the carpet." While a member of one of fighters' teams said: "Great job guys that was excellent."
Fans claimed on the video that the confrontation was staged at the press conference, with one commenting: "The end of this clip suggest to me everything is staged."
Another accused the pair of being fake, claiming: "Everything fake just to attract more views and make more money from betting and tickets. Shame."
A fan questioned if the fight would go ahead, adding: "This supposedly hulk is such a clown haha, photoshopping all his photos and try to act tough lmao, there is no way these two will fight."
One fan agreed, saying: "Why they are talking to each other as if it was staged? Even WWE is not this fake!!"
Gharibi and Ford have been embroiled in a war of words since the Briton was first proposed a clash during his time at Polish MMA promotion KSW. Gharibi has since moved to deny the fans' claims that their rivalry is for show.
"I can't show DM's but there was lots of obscenities after that face-to-face," he said on Iranian TV. "And some of them said that me and Martyn are friends but you will figure it out after a while.
"Martyn is thirsty for my blood. He said that I wanted to kill him. If he was my friend he wouldn't of pushed me like this. It proves everything is clear and transparent there is no friendship."
