Iranian Hulk has admitted he had no prior boxing experience before begrudgingly accepting a fight with Martyn Ford.
Hulk - real name Sajad Gharibi - is training to make his maiden appearance in the ring on April 30 when he will settle his war of words with his British rival. The fight had been due to take place on Saturday week but injuries to undercard fighters forced a delay.
Gharibi has now claimed Ford rejected a mixed martial arts or bare-knuckle boxing bout and instead insisted on a boxing fight. During an appearance on TV Plus in his native Iran, Gharibi was asked how his rivalry with Ford came about. "The story began in 2020, when Martyn Ford insulted me in a live video in which many Iranians had not watched," he said. "A challenge began there, it was not that serious, but anyways, he insulted me in my own live video.
"Maybe it comes back to that live video, or maybe it was because of some of my fans then went to his live videos and disrespected him, provoking him and making him jealous. He is really willing to have this fight with me.
"I suggested a bare-knuckle fight, and he refused to have an MMA fight. He had a boxing match in mind instead and he said that he would only box. I am not a boxer and have never done any boxing training, but I accepted anyway, because I thought that if I refuse to fight, it all would get worse and worse and he will believe that I am a coward.
"I accepted and as it happened a company named Boxstar Celebrity Boxing suggested to stage the fight and the final challenge started from there."
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Ford has previous experience in MMA and was previously signed to Polish promotion KSW where the pair initially spoke about fighting. The pair have exchanged fiery insults ever since and came face to face for the first time last month when they clashed in Dubai.
"Martyn has sent me a DM, insulting me saying things like, 'You are a coward, you cannot fight'," Gharibi continued. "I was living my life and had nothing to do with him.
"He kept calling me a coward and told me that I cannot fight. He said, 'If you could fight, you would have done it two years ago and would have faced me then'.
"Some of those words were so insulting that I could not really take being despised like that anymore."
