Ian Machado Garry had just finished celebrating a big win over Belal Muhammad at UFC Qatar when a surprise confrontation unfolded behind the scenes. What began as a congratulatory moment with Arman Tsarukyan turned into a brief physical exchange between Garry and UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev.
Garry described the events in detail during his post fight media session.
“I went up to [Arman] Tsarukyan,” Garry said. “I congratulated him. I went to Khamzat, I said, ‘Hey champ, what’s up? When are we going to see you back?’ He goes, ‘I don’t know, brother, whenever. Smash.’ Cool, sweet, slaps me on the back, I’m like, alright, cool. Security guy gets in front of us, I’m like, ‘We literally were just cool with each other, he’s not going to fight me.’ And then that little dick energy comes out.
“‘Yeah, fck you, brother, fck you,’ boom, he tries to push me. I just turned around and went, ‘You’re meant to be a champion of this sport. You’re a child. You’re taking away from your friend’s win over here. How about you calm down, slow down, and have a bit of respect for your friend over here rather than trying to steal the headlines.’”
Garry insisted he did not escalate the situation and explained what he thought motivated Chimaev’s shove.
“You want the honest truth? It’s little dick energy,” he said. “‘I need to show the world I’m tough.’ You’re the champion of the world. No one needs to see you be tough. You don’t need to have these anger management issues. Just be a man.
“Sorry. I’ll get him one day.”
Ian Garry says Khamzat Chimaev has “little d*ck energy” 😬
“You’re meant to be a champion of this sport. You’re a child… it’s little d*ck energy.
I’ll get him one day. They’re all gonna try and grab a hold of my legs, boring little- don’t get me started.” #UFCQatar pic.twitter.com/Husnr468Wu
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) November 22, 2025
Chimaev gave a different account at Arman Tsarukyan’s media scrum, saying Garry had poked fun at him first.
“You know this guy, trying to be Conor but never gonna be Conor,” Chimaev said.
According to eyewitnesses, Garry had just finished congratulating Tsarukyan when he turned toward Chimaev and spoke with him briefly. Security stepped between the two as routines were wrapping up. Only seconds later Chimaev shoved Garry, security intervened, and the moment ended with words rather than punches.
Khamzat Chimaev explains why he shoved Ian Garry backstage:
“Don’t punch somebody from behind. He’s tapping my back. If you wanna show respect, respectfully touch somebody.
He came there to make some hype. You know that guy, trying to be Conor but he’s never gonna be Conor.… pic.twitter.com/UDWpYXrcg6
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) November 22, 2025
Neither fighter pushed the incident into a larger brawl, but the exchange drew attention because of how quickly a friendly vibe shifted to hostility. Garry publicly framed the shove as unnecessary and unbecoming of a champion, while Chimaev stuck to his version that Garry’s behavior provoked the response.
What Comes Next For Both Fighters
Garry is focused on climbing the welterweight ladder and has signaled patience about moving up weight classes. He explained his thinking about 185 pounds and why the timing is not right now.
“I’ve trained in Kill Cliff, Fla. Everybody here knows Gregory Rodrigues. When I stand in front of that man, I’m like, ‘Yeah, that’s not a good idea to move up to middleweight.’ I am 28. Maybe when I’m 34, 35, and I’ve grown up and I’ve got a bit bigger, maybe my metabolism starts to slow down, I start to hit that hard. I could move up now and I’m absolutely going to be doing the same things I do. Smart, technical, elusive, fast, I could have success. But there’s a lot of people in this welterweight division that I need to beat and dominate.
“I want to do this GSP style. I want to go through the division, dominate the division, beat every flash in the pan, beat every next No. 1 contender in the world, and dominate this division. I’m 28 years of age as of Monday this week. I have a decade of domination in this sport, I have no rush to move up.” via MMAFighting
Chimaev, meanwhile, is facing surgery that will keep him out until April 2026, delaying any potential middleweight title defenses and any immediate follow up to the backstage incident.
