“He’s A P****, He’s A B****”
Ian Machado Garry finally got the match-up he wanted last week when it was announced he will be facing Shavkat Rakhmonov in the co-main event at UFC 310 next month. “The Future” has long been campaigning for a fight that will get him closer to a shot at the UFC welterweight title and following Belal Muhammad’s withdrawal from his scheduled title defense against Rakhmonov, the Irishman has now agreed to face his fellow unbeaten prospect in what will surely be a number-one contender match-up.
Prior to accepting the Rakhmonov fight, Garry had initially been scheduled to face Joaquin Buckley a week later at UFC Tampa. The Irishman had reluctantly accepted that fight following his inability to secure a bout against anyone sitting higher than himself in the UFC 170lb rankings. He revealed a few months ago that he had signed a contract to face former title challenger Colby Covington, but insisted that “Chaos” had refused to agree to the bout despite the pair having shared a distasteful back-and-forth on social media earlier this year. Garry revealed that Covington’s reasons for turning down the fight were due to the pair’s conflicting schedules.
In a bizarre turn of events however, the UFC has announced that Covington will now replace Garry at UFC Tampa and face Joaquin Buckley, just a week after the Dubliner squares off against Rakhmonov in Las Vegas. This has (understandably) not gone down well with Garry, who lashed out at Covington upon hearing the news.
“This jsut shows that this ***** ducking me” exclaimed Garry, speaking from Phuket, Thailand via his YouTube channel. “He’s been ducking me for f***ing seven/eight months. I signed for the baddest man in the division (Rakhmonov) and this guy comes out of the shadows. He’s a p****, he’s a b**** and one day I’ll get my hands on him”.
Garry went on to pledge his support for “New Mansa” for the UFC Tampa headliner. “Joaquin Buckley” he said, “I’m behind you 100% of the way, go out and put that man asleep. Please and thank you, do it for me because he’s not able to do it against me”.
“I’m Coming To Take Over”
Garry and Rakhmonov are just two of an extensive list of exciting prospects in the 170lb division. The pair have trained together in the past and footage has been circulating this week on social media showing them sparring at Kill Cliff in Florida last year.
Shavkat Rakhmonov and Ian Garry sparring pic.twitter.com/BJFPdzRcYX
— MMA Mania (@mmamania) November 18, 2024
Garry has won all eight of his fights inside the Octagon and sits seventh in the welterweight rankings. He holds wins over Neil Magny, Geoff Neal and Michael “Venom” Page and after beating “MVP” at UFC 303 earlier this year he called for the opportunity to face Rakhmonov during his appearance at the post-fight press conference.
“Honestly, I was pushing for that Shavkat fight” he revealed. “I was pushing for it, undefeated versus undefeated. We’ve trained together, we know how good we are, we both respect each other. He probably respects me a lot less than I respect him, which is ok…which is ok…that’s the way it should be at that point in our careers. But the truth is I will take his ‘0’ and I will take that belt.
“Anyone, anywhere, anytime. I am training to be the best Ian Machado Garry I possibly can be. I am preparing myself for every single stance, every single style. I am coming to take this division over (and) show the world the gifts god gave me”.
