Ian Garry is so confident that he’ll defeat Islam Makhachev at UFC 330, the top-ranked welterweight contender is even predicting the round and method of finish (see his called shot here). Garry (17-1) is afraid that an early finish or flash knockout might cheapen his victory or prompt an avalanche of post-fight excuses.
Former UFC heavyweight champion turned color commentator, Daniel Cormier, suggests Garry’s “misguided” approach to the Makhachev main event on Aug. 15 in Philadelphia could come back to bite him in the ass.
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“Sometimes, a person is misguided in their thoughts, and when they’re misguided in their thoughts, they set themselves up for a very, very bad night or a bad result,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel (transcribed by MMA Junkie). “I’m not saying Ian Garry cannot beat Islam Makhachev. What I’m saying is you’ve got to take that as it comes. You can’t try to say, ‘I want to beat the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world in a certain round because I don’t want it to be a fluke.’ If you win, it does not matter how you win.”
Cormier is a longtime friend of Makhachev, who also trains at American Kickboxing Academy (AKA).
“I would encourage [Garry] to let go of the idea that you want to call your shot, and you call your shot later in the fight so that people don’t have an opinion of what happened,” Cormier explained. “It doesn’t matter what happens if you beat the best fighter in the world across all weight classes pound-for-pound. It doesn’t matter how you win. It only matters that you win. And if Ian Garry wins by a fast knockout, if Ian Garry wins by submission, or if Ian Garry wins by a decision, it doesn’t matter.”
Makhachev (28-1) is currently ranked No. 1 in the promotion’s pound-f0r-pound rankings.
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The former lightweight champion, now 34, surrendered his 155-pound title and moved up to welterweight to capture the crown from Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 322 last fall. He’s currently tied with former middleweight champion Anderson Silva at 16 for longest win streak in UFC history. As for Garry, 28, he rebounded from a decision loss to the still-injured Shavkat Rakhmonov to win back-to-back fights over ranked contender Carlos Prates and former champion Belal Muhammad.
To see who else is fighting at UFC 330 in Philly click here.
