Fans are speculating that the Iranian Hulk is going to pull out of his fight with Martyn Ford as his social media silence continues.
Sajad Gharibi, who goes by the Iranian Hulk nickname, has promised that he is ready to fight, and has a link to buy tickets to the April 2 fight in his Instagram bio.
But fans believe his lack of training footage in recent weeks indicates that he won't end up stepping into the ring in the main event of Boxstar's fight night at The O2 in London.
Ford, for his part, has been vocally pushing the fight through press appearances and social media posts, and today showed off a black eye he picked up sparring with kickboxing legend Rico Verhoeven.
And fans believe that Gharibi, who many argue has edited his photos to look different, will find a way to pull out of the fight after seeing how intensely Ford is training.
"They’re saying the hulk isn’t gonna fight thooo," one fan wrote in the comments of Ford's latest Instagram post.
"Your opponent isn’t real man," another said. How many times has he made fights then backed out?
"Has anyone ever seen video of him or just those photoshopped photos? Lol"
Fans of Ford's are anxious to see him in the ring, with one saying "I’m still not convinced the 'hulk' won’t just p**** out last minute.
"I sincerely hope he doesn’t though, I want to see you kick ass haha."
Another added simply that the Iranian Hulk "ain’t showing up man".
Gharibi hasn't posted to Instagram since January 13, where he shared a video of his intensive core workout that saw him hit repeatedly to the stomach with a wooden plank.
The caption read: "I have nothing to lose. When no one has anything to lose this is very dangerous - can't wait to FIGHT."
Are you excited for Martyn Ford vs the Iranian Hulk? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
There is then a passage written in Arabic, which roughly translates to: "The intensity of the blows was carried out by the balls of the ba, the dard shadid, the mikhawab, the perfect exercises, the dar where the mah is comprehensive, withstand a blow."
But Ford was unimpressed, telling Mirror Fighting that it was "embarrassing", and saying it made the fight look bad.
“I was embarrassed, genuinely embarrassed," Ford said. "People ask me if this is a real fight or if this is some kind of WWE fight.
"And yes of course it is 100 per cent this is going off. He is either an absolute genius and is putting this content out to fool me that he is that bad. Or he was conceived too close to a nuclear experiment and his head isn’t right.
"Because there is something about that video and all of them I can’t grasp what he is doing. The contracts signed and the fights are real and he is putting out the content like that."
