Hafthor 'The Mountain' Bjornsson has admitted to spitting at Eddie Hall when they came to blows this week in a heated first face-off - but says his rival spat at him first. You can see a clip of the incident below.
Bjornsson, who famously broke Hall's deadlift world record when he lifted 501kg [1,104 lbs] in May 2020, will finally come up against his long-term rival on March 19th at the 5,000 capacity Duty Free Tennis Stadium in Dubai.
It is a feud that has been ongoing for years but things got especially heated this year when the Brit 'exposed' Bjornsson after he was accused of cheating at the 2017 World's Strongest Man competition.
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That YouTube clip has been viewed over eight million times since Hall posted in May 2020. You can see it below.
Hall, who has pledged to "rip Thor's fu**ing head off" in the fight, has lost a total of 36kg while cutting weight for the bout.
'The Mountain', meanwhile, has lost almost a quarter of his original body weight in the build up, going from 205kg to 145kg in the space of around 16 months.
Both men have trained hard for Saturday's bout and naturally, tempers flared earlier this week when they came face-to-face for the first time since the fight was announced in November 2020.
As you can see in the footage above, Hall squares up to Bjornsson and threatens to bite off the nose of the Icelandic giant, who played 'The Mountain' in HBO's Game of Thrones.
Hall then challenges Bjornsson to “step outside” while calling him a “f****** p****”, prompting an angry reaction from Thor.
Bjornsson then calls Hall a “piece of s***” as their respective camps desperately attempt to keep the two men apart.
Since the footage emerged online, Bjornsson has admitted to spitting at Hall.
But he has also accused his opponent of spitting on him first. "I am getting a lot of questions regarding an incident that occurred between Eddie and I yesterday," he wrote.
"I was getting ready to train when i received a message letting me know that Eddie was five minutes away. I had no idea that this was happening, it was an obvious setup that Eddie was in on.
"Things got pretty heated, insults were thrown and it ended with Eddie being dragged out of the building, severely injuring someone involved, whilst trying to spit on me.
"I did spit back, not my finest moment but the adrenaline was cranked and I was shocked that he would do something so disgusting.
"Regardless, I managed to keep quite calm, all things considered, as I didn't want to throw two years of hard work out the window.
"I'm looking forward to stepping into the ring with Eddie on Saturday so we can settle this once and for all, without it turning into a disgusting street fight which is clearly what Eddie wanted after his clear lack of discipline in yesterday's display."
Thoughts on the footage?
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Topics: Eddie Hall, Hafthor Bjornsson, Boxing
Jack Kenmare