In a way, Ian Machado Garry silenced the doubters at UFC 310 this past Saturday.
The final UFC pay-per-view of the year delivered one of the rare instances of two top undefeated contenders colliding with a title shot on the line, with welterweights Garry and Shavkat Rakhmonov fighting for the right to face UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad. After five rounds of high-level action, the former teammates proved nearly equal, however Garry’s late rally wasn’t enough and the Irishman fell short via unanimous decision after stepping into the bout on short notice.
Having already watched the fight back six times, Garry believes a few little tweaks could’ve kept his record flawless.
“I went in there on short notice against the scariest man in the division, and I made him human,” Garry said Monday on Uncrowned’s “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “I proved to the world how talented I am against a guy who they thought was unbeatable. I went out there, and there’s no argument in my mind that when that fight finishes, that you can’t sit there and say anything else other than I’m the scarier fighter. He didn’t beat me anywhere. The significant strikes, I won. The grappling exchanges, I was winning. I was defending and shutting down everything he was doing. The game plan, and everything that I had come up and told my team I wanted to do, it worked. So it’s a matter of seconds and four to five extra shots, and you’re talking about five rounds in my favor.
“I’m very proud of the performance I went out and put on — 25 minutes with someone who people didn’t want to fight. Everyone in the division was running from him, and I stood up and said, ‘Absolutely, let’s go. I know I can beat you. I know I’m good enough to go out there and beat anyone on any given day.’ I proved that it was that close, razor-thin. So I feel like the biggest thing for me is that takedown in the fourth round. Had he not secured that takedown in the fourth round, I believe I win [rounds] three, four, five.
“It’ll make me better,” he concluded. “I’ll be better for this.”
Garry’s assessment of the fight is reasonable considering all three judges agreed on 48-47 scores, with Rakmonov winning rounds one, two and four. The fight marked the first time the dangerous Kazakhstan native was taken the distance after finishing all 18 previous opponents.
The previous sparring sessions between Garry and Rakhmonov were a big talking point ahead of their clash, leading both to share their sides in the build-up. Despite their gym separation, there was never any bad blood and any verbal jabs were more of competitive confidence. After the loss, Garry still praises his latest Octagon rival.
“I’ve been gifted by God, talents that other people cannot understand,” Garry said. “A mentality that people cannot comprehend because I am simply gifted. When I stood in that Octagon on Saturday night, I knew and believed that I could go out there and beat that man. And I gave it a pretty good go. Everything I did, there wasn’t anything in that fight that shocked nor surprised me.
“Leading into the fight, everyone was talking about how he choked me in training, yada, yada, yada. Well, who looked like he was going to finish the fight on Saturday night? It wasn’t him. It was only me. I jumped on three submissions. I tried to wrap up all three of them. He defended well. Great job. When we got back to the feet, I was winning. He had big shots. Fair play, it’s a fight. I’d hope that one of the best fighters in the division would be able to have success against me.”
Confidence has never been in shortage for the 27-year-old Garry. The Irishman created and perpetuated comparisons to former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor throughout his rise. However, Garry’s performances have sometimes fallen flat compared to the high bar of McGregor’s historic surge through featherweight from 2013-15.
Garry admits that the Rakhmonov loss has — somewhat strangely — made him more confident.
“The confidence isn’t rattled. It’s not going anywhere,” Garry promised. “I know how talented I am, I know how young I am, and I know how skillful I will be and am right now. It’s just a matter of tiny, minuscule tweaks in a game of inches to go out there and get that finish, get that win, and get the belt. So I have no doubt in my mind that next year I will get that belt. No doubt whatsoever. Evolve and grow.
“My hand may not have got raised, but I don’t feel like I’ve lost. It’s hard to word because obviously I did not win, but I guess my spirit is not broken. My heart nor spirit does not feel like — I still feel like I’m slightly victorious in this motion.
“I keep saying this to my wife, but if we fight today, five rounds, I believe I win,” he continued. “That’s how fast I learned. It’s how fast I grow and evolve. At the end of the five rounds, he was bollocks. He was breathing out of his arse. He looked broken. So yeah, I feel like if you put me and him in that Octagon today, I win. And that’s OK. I may not have got my hand raised on Saturday night, I may not have won the fight, but I’m not broken and my spirit is not. I do not remotely feel like in my heart or soul that I have lost. I feel like I’ve only proven to myself and the entire planet that I am absolutely one of the greatest fighters in this division, and it’s a matter of time until that belt is mine.”
Youth is definitely in Garry’s favor. He’s impressed and progressed in each of his nine UFC fights.
Still, until Garry can get his first crack at UFC gold, he’ll have to rebuild and string some wins together. UFC returns to Europe with an event in London in March. The date aligns nicely for a Garry return on paper, but the top contender is vehemently against fighting on his continent unless it’s in his native Ireland.
In terms of opponents, Garry has plenty of options, and the winner of this Saturday’s UFC Tampa headliner between Colby Covington and Joaquin Buckley makes for an obvious choice — especially as Garry vs. Buckley was already the plan before UFC 310’s late switch.
There’s also former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, who seemed to be the first candidate to take on Rakhmonov in place of the injured current titleholder Muhammad. Usman was never a possibility, according to Garry, and he spewed venom toward “The Nigerian Nightmare” prior to UFC 310.
Usman, 37, has since fired back at Garry, questioning the Irishman’s credentials on Usman’s “Pound 4 Pound” podcast. It’s been more than a full year since Usman last fought and the former champ rides a three-fight losing skid. Ultimately, if and when Usman returns, Garry doesn’t expect it to be against him.
“I don’t believe it. I really don’t,” Garry said. “I believe Usman is very, very selective with the way he matchmakes. I believe he’s going to be very cautious in his choosing of who he wants to fight, because he is well aware the relevancy that he has with his ranking right now and one loss plummets him down. So I believe he’s going to be very cautious, very sacred and very careful. I do not believe he wants to step into the Octagon with me in any way, shape, nor form. I said it last week and I’ll say it again, he’s got a big chest and it looks good, but where it matters, he’s slacking.
“He hasn’t got the balls to step in there against these young up-and-coming contenders. He just wants to maintain relevancy and hold that ranking and doesn’t want to do anything to compete. I feel like there needs to be a change in the rule set with people like him and Colby who are keeping the division stagnant and not willing to do anything. I mean, it’s ridiculous.
“It should be you have one choice,” he continued. “You fight this guy or you don’t fight at all. It shouldn’t be a case of, ‘Oh, well, we have options.’ No, ‘We want you to fight X. You either fight or you don’t fight.’ So I don’t know any way to make it more obvious, but Kamaru Usman, in my mind, is a little b*tch, and I don’t think he’ll ever step into the Octagon with me ever.”
