Las Vegas — Like Dante in Clerks, Ian Machado Garry wasn’t even supposed to be here today.
The difference, however, is that Ian Garry wants to be here. Wants to be part of UFC 310, wants to fight Shavkat Rakhmonov, and jumped at the chance to move from the UFC Tampa main event, to a welterweight title eliminator in the UFC 310 co-headliner.
“I told you guys I had a plan. I told you it was a six-fight plan, and in my sixth fight, I’ll win the world title. When I fight Shavkat, that will be number five,” Garry (15-0) exclaimed during Wednesday’s UFC 310 media day, speaking to outlets including Cageside Press. “So it’s been perfect. I think the only way this would have been nicer is if I would have taken out someone like a Colby [Covington] or a [Kamaru] Usman, proved that wrestling defense, beat one of those guys that had been in the division for so long, and then take out Shavkat for the title.”
“That’s the only way it would have drawn up better in my mind, but God has gifted me a golden opportunity to go out here on Saturday night, cement myself as the number one contender, and I’m going to take it by the balls and I’m going to have some fun.”
Garry understands the fanbase seeing himself and Shavkat as each being the answer to questions about the other. He certainly sees fans as having questions about how legitimate Rakhmonov is, though as he noted, “not that he hasn’t proved or done anything that isn’t phenomenal so far in his career. 18 up and 18 down is pretty spectacular.”
Having said that, Garry suggested that Shavkat struggled in his fight with Geoff Neal, and overall, “just his opponents haven’t been as high-level in totality as mine; obviously we share two.”
On his side, “Can I deal with the pressure, can I stop the wrestling, can I beat him on the feet, can I do these things?” Garry is aware of those questions as well. “The answer’s yes, but I’ve got to go out there and prove it on Saturday night.”
If nothing else, Garry appears to have been getting props from fans around the world, according to the Irish fighter himself. And that’s because, as mentioned, he wanted to be here, in a fight with an 18-0 opponent that many see as even more dangerous as himself.
“All I have seen from this fight is that the entire world knows that I’m a gamer. They have all given me nothing but respect, because I didn’t have to take this fight. We all know that. I had a fight lined up next week.”
“I seen this opportunity against the baddest man in the division and went ‘you know what? Let me do that,'” Garry continued. “Why? The risk versus reward is better than anything. The risk in any fight, you go out, you lose. The reward? You move up the rankings. You move up the ladder. In this case, I get a shot at the title. I cement myself as the number one contender, I remain undefeated, I take out what many consider to be the boogeyman, I do it in beautiful fashion and then I go wipe the floor with Belal [Muhammad, welterweight champion] next year. That’s it. It’s perfect, man.”
Garry later predicted a long reign for himself, and that the young stars in the UFC‘s welterweight division would usurp the old.
“The young are going to start to feed off the old. We’re going to start to see the guys that have been in the division and dominated the division for so long slowly fade away. It’s happening, slowly but surely, and you will see a complete shift in this division in the next 18 months.”
Garry noted that “amazing” young, hungry talents are all on the way up, “all trying to prove how good they are. And it’s going to be exciting when I’m sat there with the belt wrapped around my waist going ‘you next, then you, then you, then you.’ And I’m going to do what GSP [Georges St-Pierre], I’m going to do what Jon Jones has done, I’m going to do what Israel Adesanya has done and I’m going to dominate the division for a long, long time and it’s going to be amazing.”
Watch the full UFC 310 media day appearance by Ian Machado Garry above.
