Ian Garry has accused Michael ‘Venom’ Page and his team of trying to bribe members of his gym for information about him ahead of their UFC 303 fight.
At a lively press conference ahead of the card, the Irishman even went as far as claiming MVP and his jiu-jitsu coach would be ‘suspended for life’ from MMA, though there is not a suggestion that this will be the case or if his accusation is true.
The 26-year-old said: ‘I’ve already broke this man’s confidence down so much. He knows, I don’t need to say what I’m talking about.
‘You know exactly what I’m on about. Your self-confidence is f*****d. You know what I’m talking about.
‘It will come out. It will come out, kid. But your brain is f***ing scurrying for excuses. Do you want to say it or will I? Tell the people.
Ian Garry (left) accused Michael ‘Venom’ Page and his team of trying to pay for infomation
The welterweights faced off ahead of their fight on Saturday night at UFC 303
‘Did you and your team offer thousands of dollars to get information in Chute Boxe from my boys? Garry went on.
‘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***ing rat jiu-jitsu coach offered money to one of my Brazilian friends and you got nothing. Saturday night, you’re f****d.’
‘You and your jiu-jitsu coach are getting suspended for life.’
Page laughed off the allegation, saying: ‘This guy’s hilarious. All I know is the one and only ‘MVP’ is here at the UFC and I’m about to make some noise.’
Garry later posted on X saying he ‘has receipts’, presumably meaning the message supposedly sent to one of his team in Brazil.
The battle on Saturday night between the two strikers will kick off the main card in Las Vegas and looks a tight match-up on paper.
MVP is vastly experienced and more than a decade older than Garry, but the Irishman remains undefeated and is one of the organisation’s brightest rising stars.
Speaking exclusively to Mail Sport in the build-up to the fight, Page spoke about how he interprets Garry’s repeated claim that he is ‘disinterested’ in their fight.
He said: ‘When you do it that way, it reminds me if you don’t want something to manifest into real life, you belittle it as much as possible.
Page defeated Kevin Holland (left) on his UFC debut back in March this year
Garry (left) is undefeated and both men will be close to a title shot with a win this weekend
‘Instead of confidently going for it, you’re going to keep playing it down, playing it down, he’s just trying to avoid it manifesting into real life and it did anyway.
‘I haven’t looked too much into him but I hear a lot,’ the welterweight added. ‘A lot about his kind of situation, I don’t care to listen to just random stuff. I’ve never met him to judge him.
‘He has got an annoying appeal, a very annoying appeal online and how he kind of markets himself so I personally don’t care for him but either way I don’t dislike him or like him at all. For me it’s just a fight and a step on a ladder to get to where I want to get to.’
