Serge Ibaka jokingly offers to fight Matt Barnes for the UFC

By Mike Dyce | Jul 21, 2015

May 5, 2014; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Serge Ibaka (9) blocks a shot attempt by Los Angeles Clippers forward Matt Barnes (22) during the first quarter in game one of the second round of the 2014 NBA Playoffs at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports /

Oklahoma City Thunder center Serge Ibaka jokingly offers a fight with Matt Barnes to UFC president Dana White.

Matt Barnes was on ESPN’s SportsNation and had some interesting comments about Oklahoma City Thunder center Serge Ibaka.

"Me and Serge can fight right now if he was here, I just don't like him."

Matt Barnes explains himself on the show. pic.twitter.com/ozRko1oyqA
— SportsNation (@SportsNation) July 21, 2015

Ibaka had some fun with the comments on Twitter, jokingly offering the fight to UFC president Dana White.

@danawhite @ufc are you interested? LOL https://t.co/tgXNbDxBPq
— Serge Ibaka (@sergeibaka) July 21, 2015

Barnes and Ibaka have history going back a couple of years. Ibaka got tangled with Clippers star Blake Griffin after a blocked shot and Barnes, then with the Clippers, stepped in to shove Ibaka.

It sparked a skirmish that resulted in their ejections.

Barnes has since moved on and joined the Memphis Grizzlies but he takes his hate of Ibaka with him. You could say that this is just a player defending a teammate but it looked like Griffin clamped down on Ibaka’s arm to tie him down.

Then of course there is the fact that Barnes is involved and he doesn’t exactly have a squeaky clean reputation when it comes to run-ins with opponents.

Which reminds us that this is a good time to relive the time that Kobe Bryant punked Barnes before the two of them became teammates.

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