Things are heating up between the Lebanese bantamweight fighter Philippe Massoud and his opponent, the Jordanian Ali Al Qaisi.
More than two weeks ahead of their face/off in Phoenix 4 Dubai on December 22, the two fighters started exchanging verbal jabs, each underestimating the other.
In a conversation with Arabsmma, Massoud expressed his belief that Ali Al Qaisi is mediocre, and he doesn’t see him posing any threat in their upcoming bout.
“For me Ali Qaisi is an average fighter. I didn’t see anything in him that would get me worried whether in stand-up or on the ground. He fought more than me but my last fight was against someone who had more fights than him and I finished him very quickly”.
Despite declaring that his opponent is not a fighter to be worried about, Massoud nonetheless affirmed that he takes all his fights seriously.
“I see every fight as the biggest in my career. My preparations are made accordingly. Before each fight, I tell myself, ‘this is the biggest fight in my life’. This keeps motivated to give my utmost in training”.
The Lebanese fighter’s statements infuriated Al Qaisi who responded with a harsh tone. He told ArabsMMA that he’d “teach Massoud a lesson” for the lack of respect he showed in his comments.
“Massoud is a joke. He’s stupid too. I couldn’t find any fight by him in order to set a plan. All I could find was an old fight against (George) Bardawil around two years ago. Surely this jerk must have improved. There’s a chance he made progress but I don’t care about that because in my usual training every week I train with new partners with different styles and a high level. I don’t expect this punk to be better than those I meet and train with”.
This 61 kg bout will be one of several fights in which Arab fighters will face each other. The most notable one will see middleweight Mohammad Karaki take on the Egyptian promising fighter Alaa Mansour.
On the same scale of importance, two other top Arab middleweights, the Egyptian Ibrahim Elsawi and the Syrian Tarek Suleiman will also engage in battle.
