At some point this week, Gerald Meerschaert and Khamzat Chimaev bumped into each other at the UFC host hotel.

As they crossed paths, Meerschaert’s apparent displeasure regarding Chimaev’s being booked with a fight just one month after their upcoming contest on Saturday caused the Chechen to stop and tell Meerschaert to stop raising the issue so much.

“We passed each other in the hallway very quick and he tried to, I think he was trying to talk trash with me,” Meerschaert said on today’s virtual media day. “He just kept saying, ‘Don’t talk too much,’ and I was kind like, ‘Yeah, OK.’ We’re fighting Saturday so we’re not going to do anything now because I want to make money.

“I don’t know what his deal is and not only that, but I don’t think it’s a very cool thing to flex when you got all your friends with you and stuff. I had one guy with me and he had a bunch of guys with him. I get it, you don’t have to like me, I don’t have to like you, but let’s just save it for the cage.”

While Chimaev agreed with the version of events put forward to him following Meerschaert’s appearance. Although he did add his own spin on it.

“I met him,” Chimaev said. “I said he speak too much, he talk too much in the media. He disrespected me. He think I didn’t like that, but I said to him you like to talk too much. He said yeah, I said I’m going to smash your face, chicken. He said nothing.”

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