Just before the UFC 303 pre-fight press conference concluded, Ian Machado Garry threw out an inflammatory accusation that he promised would get Michael Page banned from the sport.
While that seems rather unlikely, it didn’t stop Garry from launching into a tirade aimed at the former Bellator fighter after the two exchanged words on stage. Initially, Garry just taunted Page with a threat to reveal some mysterious information, but the veteran fighter and one-time BKFC brawler seemingly had no idea what Garry was talking about.
“I’ve already broke this man’s confidence down so much. He knows, I don’t need to say what I’m talking about,” Garry shouted. “You know exactly what I’m on about. Your self-confidence is f*cked. You know what I’m talking about.
“It will come out. It will come out, kid. But your brain is f*cking scurrying for excuses. Do you want to say it or will I? Tell the people.”
As Page effectively laughed in his face, Garry responded by claiming the veteran striker attempted to pay off somebody in his camp for information ahead of their UFC 303 fight.
There have been dozens of accusations about “moles” infiltrating training camps in MMA over the years, but Garry went one step further by suggesting that Page was willing to pay for that information yet returned with nothing.
“Did you and your team offer thousands of dollars to get information in Chute Boxe from my boys?” Garry said. “Did you send someone a message and offer thousands for information, yet couldn’t infiltrate the camp/ You couldn’t get into [it], the Chute Boxe family is too tight.
“Your little f*cking rat jiu-jitsu coach offered money to one of my Brazilian friends and you got nothing. Saturday night, you’re f*cked.”
Before he was done talking, Garry then suggested that Page and his unnamed coach could get banned from the sport for life if that information was proven true.
“You and your jiu-jitsu coach are getting suspended for life,” Garry said.
That’s a dubious claim at best, that anybody would receive a lifetime ban from the sport, and it prompted a fiery response from Page as the crowd began chanting “MVP.”
“This guy’s hilarious,” Page said. “All I know is the one and only ‘MVP’ is here at the UFC and I’m about to make some noise.”
When Garry kept chirping on the microphone, Page answered back emphatically.
“Shut the f*ck up!” Page shouted.
The faceoff between the welterweights was just as intense a few minutes later, with UFC CEO Dana White keeping an arm between them and eventually breaking them apart before anything got out of hand.
