Sean Brady doesn’t see Ian Machado Garry as the one to dethrone UFC welterweight champion Islam Makhachev.
A slew of top welterweight contenders await their shot at Makhachev (28-1 MMA, 17-1 UFC), who is currently dealing with a hand injury. Machado Garry, Kamaru Usman, and Michael Morales appear to be the frontrunners for that opportunity.
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While Brady thinks it should be Machado Garry (17-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) who gets the next title shot, he predicts Makhachev would have his way with him on the ground.
“I know people are going to say I’m a hater of Ian, but I think Islam will get him down, and I think Islam will probably submit him,” Brady said on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “If you look at where Shavkat (Rakhmonov) had Ian, if you look where where (Michael Page) had Ian in a weird grappling spot, people can get to him, and if someone like Islam gets to him, which I think he would, it would be a long night for Ian.
“But, again, Ian is very tricky, and I knew that when I was trying to fight him, and hopefully I still get to fight him. He’s very long, rangy, he knows how to keep his distance well, he knows how to skirt along the octagon and keep you away from him. So I think it’ll be a very interesting fight, but ultimately, I think Islam will get him down and sub him.”
Brady was on the cusp of title contention until he was finished by Morales in Round 1 at UFC 322. With Morales’ (19-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) size and power, Brady sees him as a more problematic matchup for Makhachev than Machado Garry.
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“I think Morales has a better chance than Ian for sure,” Brady said. “(He’s) way more unorthodox. I think he’ll be very strong in those clinch positions, where Islam will be looking for those inside trips, single legs and all his takedowns.
“Morales, we still haven’t seen what he is on his back or what he is like in a harder fight, a second, third, fourth or fifth round. So there’s a lot of question marks there where I feel like they’ve kind of been answered with Ian. You know what you’re getting with Ian. I think Morales is still that question mark in the division.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Sean Brady: Morales bigger threat to Makhachev than Machado Garry
