Ian Garry shares his side of the altercation with Khamzat Chimaev

Ian Garry says he had no intent of starting a feud with Khamzat Chimaev.

Garry defeated Belal Muhammad last November, with Arman Tsarukyan finishing Dan Hooker in the main event of the same card in Doha, Qatar. Chimaev, who was in Tsarukyan’s corner, then had an altercation with Garry backstage, which “The Future” recently revisited.

Ian Garry recalls Khamzat Chimaev altercation
Garry shook hands with the entire team and also patted Chimaev on the back. The latter then seemingly felt provoked and pushed Garry before security stepped in.

Garry recently shared his side of the story, claiming he had no malicious intent when he was greeting Chimaev and his entire team. The Irishman also notes that Chimaev didn’t immediately react when he patted him. Garry claims Chimaev was fired up only after people stepped in between them. He believes Chimaev would have gotten physical when they were in proximity if he really wanted to.

“Me and Khamzat aren’t boys,” Garry told Full Send MMA. “When I go to a team and there’s Arman Tsarukyan tying his shoelace, I said congrats to him, I said congrats to his other coach and congrats to one more. And I leave one guy out and I didn’t see him. And I go, ‘Oh sh*t, sorry champ, how are you?’ We were cool, we were fine at that point. It was only when someone stepped in between us that it was a problem. If he wanted to suplex me and put me on my skull, he would have done it when I [leaned on him]. Go watch my body language again… In no way, shape, or form was it aggressive. It was purely out of respect; there was no mal intent.”

Chimaev (15-1) lost his middleweight title to Sean Strickland in a massive upset this past May. The Chechen-born fighter is now rallying for a rematch against Strickland. Meanwhile, Garry (17-1) is scheduled to challenge Islam Makhachev (28-1) for the Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight title in the main event of UFC 330 on Aug. 15 at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia.

Ian Machado Garry gives his side of the Khamzat Chimaev incident

“We were fine until someone stepped in-between us. Go watch my body language, there was nothing aggressive about it. It was purely out of respect there was no mal intent. I didn’t start s**t” pic.twitter.com/Me1sO4NuXb— FULL SEND MMA (@full_send_mma) August 11, 2026