Urijah Faber speaks more in detail about what happened behind the scenes when Jean-Claude Van Damme accidentally kicked Cody Garbrandt in the face.
In November, some tension broke out between veteran actor Jean-Claude Van Damme and former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt. At the time, Van Damme was drilling some kicks with Garbrandt, when one of them accidentally landed on the face.
The video of the kick that incensed Garbrandt to a “hot sweat” only surfaced this week, which is why the incident once again came to light after some months since it happened. One of those who witnessed everything unfold was Urijah Faber, and he recently spoke to TMZ Sports, mainly about Van Damme’s reactions.
“The guy that took it the hardest was Jean-Claude,” Faber said. “He was pretty upset that he kicked a guy that he loved so much because he’s good buddies with Cody. Cody was just coming off of this hard loss (to T.J. Dillashaw) as well.”
“(Jean-Claude) was so pissed at himself, that he dropped down and got really emotional,” Faber added. “We had to console him. Cody left the Octagon, and I was trying to tell Jean-Claude ‘Hey, it’s OK, this kind of stuff happens all the time’. And he was like ‘Oh, what have I done?’ and this and that.”
From his side of things, Faber understands how Van Damme felt, knowing that the kick was totally unintentional but it still almost drove Gabrandt over the edge.
“Oh he was big-time upset,” Faber said. “Because he could tell that Cody was pissed, and he’s a big supporter of our team. He came out there to specifically show us some stuff.”