Iranian Hulk claims his rival Martyn Ford will never step foot in the ring after "hiding" from a scheduled face-off with him.
Hulk - real name Sajad Gharibi - and the 'World's Scariest Man' Ford were set to fight on April 30 at The O2 arena after their original date was pushed back, but the heavyweight clash was cancelled over "mental health concerns" after Gharibi burst into tears during a televised interview.
Gharibi threatened legal action and demanded a new opponent after Ford said he was at fault for the cancellation. Speaking in a video released on his YouTube channel, Gharibi said Ford "hid" behind bodyguards at one of their scheduled staredowns.
"The face-to-face was supposed to be held in Paramount Hotel," Gharibi said. "There were press, too. Ford was hiding behind some bodyguards, unfortunately, and didn’t show up. This is embarrassing to me."
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The strongman rivals faced off once before their fight was eventually cancelled, with Gharibi trying to take Ford down before the Brit shoved him across the ring. Gharibi later said his family "disowned" him for his actions during the staredown.
Gharibi had worried fans in the build-up to the fight by claiming that he had "no coach" for the fight. He worryingly posted videos instead of him lifting weighs instead of conventional boxing training and even made a "wish for death" after being condemned by fans online.
The Iranian said that he had to apologise to his native country on behalf of Ford when the Brit avoided their face-off, stating: "When this happened in Dubai, I was only bothered by the thought of hurting Iranian people’s feelings and I apologised to them.
'My family members were upset, because they didn’t see what they were expecting to see from me. All these made me gather spirits and become thirstier for a revenge, but the competition I’d planned for was cancelled by Ford.
"It’s not just me, he won’t fight any other fighter and this obviously means fear, to keep staying away from facing any athlete. It is truly embarrassing."
Ford has said he feels "21 again" since the fight was cancelled. The strongman weighed 360lbs before training for the fight and lost almost 60lbs during his preparations, shedding down to 302lbs when the fight was cancelled.
