Trouble almost went down between former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt and actor Jean-Claude Van Damme. It all began during one training session a few weeks before UFC 217 last November, when Van Damme dropped by the Team Alpha Male gym Sacramento to train.
As seen in the video that was released via Instagram early last month, Van Damme was demonstrating a kick on Garbrandt when one of them landed squarely on the face, infuriating “No Love.” Van Damme was extremely apologetic, and the two sides had supposedly buried the hatchet already, but during a recent appearance on The MMA Hour, Garbrandt still seems to be bothered whenever the incident was brought up.
“He just can’t control himself. He got too excited in there,” Garbrandt recalled (via MMA Fighting). “He was running all over the place like he was on sh-t.”
“What is Jean-Claude gonna show me? I respect the guy. But he’s two hours late, he had to warm up. I was annoyed by the whole thing.”
Garbrandt, however, says the incident is already water under the bridge, and he even attended the premiere of Van Damme’s latest film “Kickboxer: Retaliation” in Los Angeles in late January.
“He’s an old guy. What am I gonna do? Pummel him? It’s a lose-lose,” Garbrandt said. “We’re cool. I went to his premiere. It is what it is. He’s just a sensitive Hollywood guy.”
Garbrandt has been pushing for a rematch against T.J. Dillashaw, that he even offered to give up a percentage of his purse if his ex-teammate agreed to fight at UFC 222 on March 3rd. Dillashaw, meanwhile, is intent on facing Demetrious Johnson in a possible super-fight at 125 pounds.
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