Battle of the HULKS: Brazilian bodybuilder named after the Marvel superhero agrees to take on Iranian giant in MMA contest (but is he now regretting his decision?)
- ‘Iranian Hulk’ Sajad Gharibi has been seeking MMA opponents on social media
- He challenged Brazilian fighters to ‘show me what you’ve got to say in the ring’
- That prompted Romario dos Santos Alves, aka the Brazilian Hulk, to clap back
- ‘To the Iranian Hulk who is challenging me: I will tear off your head,’ he said
What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? Well we could be about to find out.
That is because a bodybuilder nicknamed the Brazilian Hulk has seemingly accepted a challenge to fight the man known as the Iranian Hulk.
Romario dos Santos Alves, 29, threatened to ‘tear off’ 27-year-old Sajad Gharibi’s head in an Instagram video after the Iranian threw down the gauntlet to anyone who was willing to step into the ring with him.
Romario dos Santos Alves, 29, a bodybuilder known as the Brazilian Hulk, agreed to take on Iranian Hulk Sajad Gharibi, 27, in a video posted to social media
Santos Alves, who used to inject himself with oil to get bigger muscles, initially backed away from the challenge but now appears keen
The bodybuilder challenged Gharibi to come down from his current 178kg weight to 120kg for the fight, adding: ‘I will tear your head off’
Posting on his Instagram account back in January, Gharibi wrote: ‘Be brave and Invite me to fight, rather than hiding behind your sponsors.
‘I am ready to fight you, show me what you’ve got to say in the ring.’
That was followed by an interview with UOL Esporte where he raised the prospect of fighting someone trained in Brazilian ju-jitsu.
Fans were immediately drawn to the prospect of Gharibi fighting Santos Alves because of the sheer size of the men – Gharibi weighs a staggering 178kg while Santos Alves weighs around 104kg.
While Santos Alves was initially not keen, describing the Iranian as ‘scary’ and saying he didn’t believe in violence, he seems to be changing his mind.
In a video posted to social media on Sunday, Santos Alves said: ‘I’m going to go up to 120, and I’ll give you a little message, Iranian Hulk, who’s challenging me:
‘I’ll go up to 120 and you’ll go down to 120. I’ll rip your head off.’
The video has since disappeared from his social media but was captured by UOL.
Gharibi has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers on social media thanks to his insane size and strength
The Iranian has been looking for opponents from around the world to fight, and at one stage was slated to take on Britain’s Martin Ford
Gharibi was interviewed by Brazilian media saying he would like to take on an MMA fighter before fans put together the match with Santos Alves
The huge Iranian reportedly weighs 175kg (27.6 stone) at present.
Meanwhile, the Brazilian, who is 5’8″, started training seriously in 2009 and currently weighs 104kg (16.4 stone).
According to local media, he nearly lost an arm in 2013 due to synthol oil injections which caused a severe reaction.
The use of injected oil to enhance muscle appearance is common among bodybuilders despite the fact that synthol can cause pulmonary embolisms, nerve damage, infections and the formation of oil-filled ulcers in the muscle.
Since his problems of five years ago, the Brazilian Hulk has reportedly changed his lifestyle and now trains healthily.
Sajad has challenged many opponents to fights on social media, such as British bodybuilder Martyn Ford.
Ford, dubbed ‘the scariest man in the world’, signed up to Polish MMA league KSW and appeared ready to take on Sajad, but the fight never materialised.