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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Harry Davies

Martyn Ford and Iranian Hulk come to blows during heated face-off

Martyn Ford and Iranian Hulk got into a scuffle as the pair stared down ahead of their grudge fight.

The strongmen rivals, who will fight at The O2 arena on April 2, were in Dubai on Thursday morning to face-off for the first time.

During their first staredown, they squared up to each other before Iranian Hulk, whose is real name Sajad Gharibi, attempted to take Ford down to the floor.

After their brief scuffle on the floor, they stared down for the second time and Ford shoved Gharibi which sent him flying to the floor.

A lack of security was in the ring which forced people who were filming the staredown to intervene and break up the altercation.

Their fight, which headlines a Boxstar Celebrity Boxing event, will be four two-minute rounds and has been sanctioned by the Professional Boxing Association.

Both Ford and Gharibi have never fought in the ring before, but Ford has trained in MMA for several years and is an avid fan of the sport.

Gharibi's training methods for the fight have been questioned by fans, with Ford labelling his bizarre videos as "embarrassing".

And the Brit revealed why he won't feel any sense of achievement if he beats Gharibi in April.

"I just want to smash his head in," Ford told Mirror Fighting. "It won’t give me any sense of achievement or pride to win, because I genuinely don’t think he will bring anything to the table that will allow me to be proud of myself.

"You can’t feel good about beating someone up that is useless. For me this is about settling some nonsense that has gone backwards and forwards for two or three years.

Who wins - Martyn Ford or Iranian Hulk? Let us know your prediction in the comments section below

Ford, who is commonly referred to as the 'World's Scariest Man', signed for Polish MMA promotion KSW in 2018 to try setup the fight but Gharibi didn't follow suit.

"The stuff that has been said from him and his camp and his fans, so I have just got to the point where I want to fight," he added.

"I am not someone who takes trolling to heart, but there is a point where he has just gone to things that are disgusting and rude. If you want to step into the ring, I’ll step up and I have never been afraid of confrontation.

“This is not a sporting event, you can’t have an event with someone who looks like that. That’s not a sportsman at all. This fight is purely for me to shut him and the other 200,000 fans of his. Once it is done it allows me to move forward."

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