Weigh-In Confrontation: Garbrandt Says Stephens Scratched Him With His ‘B*tch Nails’
Building on a day already full of drama and intrigue due to Ronda Rousey’s brief yet powerful appearance at the UFC 207 early weigh-ins followed by Johny Hendricks missing weight yet again, a backstage altercation between bantamweight title challenger Cody Garbrandt and his opponent Dominick Cruz’ teammate Jeremy Stephens was added to the growing list of headlines from the UFC’s year-ending pay-per-view (PPV) card.
The dust-up reportedly happened after the two fighters had weighed in and were walking out of the venue. Calling the action live, MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani described the scene towards the end of the following weigh-in video:
After it went down, Helwani caught up with Stephens to hear his side of the tale, confirming it did get physical:
“He’s coming at me fast, like he’s going to push me. I just put my arm out and the security guy picks me up, moves me out. Cody starts getting all hot-headed, screaming, trying to throw his shirt off, trying to fight me. I’m laughing. Like, Hey bro, you better get serious, you’re fighting my teammate tomorrow. I’m here for Dom. Then they broke it up. I was just shocked by the whole situation. This dude has got a fight coming up and he’s mad at me. I thought me and him were cordial. I got no problems with him. I’m here to support my teammate.
“I stiff-armed him. We both kinda grabbed each other.”
Garbrandt then texted his side to Helwani, riding Conor McGregor‘s coattails with his infamous press conference line he levied at ‘Lil’ Heathen’:
“Dude’s a b*tch and scratched my neck with his b*tch nails. He is lucky I had my hands full and was taken from behind by a few people. Cruz knows he can’t beat me so he brings his self-proclaimed savage in and hype man.
“Like Conor (McGregor) said, who the fook is that guy?”
‘No Love’ certainly has just that for Cruz, and seems the sentiment now extends to the longtime champ’s team as well. But after Garbrandt went off the handles in an interview yesterday, it’s also safe to wonder if the Team Alpha Male knockout artist is getting a bit too heated for his own good.
It hasn’t failed him yet, however. Will it tomorrow night?
