Ian Machado Garry is looking to shake up the UFC’s welterweight rankings.
With Carlos Prates and Michael Morales both picking up big knockout wins this past Saturday at UFC 322, Machado Garry finds himself ranked below them at No. 6. The only issue that could be seen with that is Machado Garry (16-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) just beat Prates in a main event in April.
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“They’re kind of irrelevant in my mind to a certain extent because the guys that won should be above me now,” Machado Garry told MMA Junkie on the UFC welterweight rankings. “I understand that. Prates being above me, silly, but I understand it. He did knock out whatever Leon (Edwards) was in the world, No. 4, whatever it was, and Morales did knock out No. 2 in the world, so they should be there.
“I think I’ve been like No. 7 for like the last four fights – it’s ridiculous. They just don’t want to move me up because they know the star power is there, and they’re trying to kind of hone it. I think they’re having a little Conor McGregor (situation): We can’t let this guy disappear. We know what they can do.”
Although it’s a panel of media members who vote on the UFC’s rankings, Machado Garry was happy to finally see the old guard bumped down. He is confident that he leapfrogs everyone if he gets past former champion Belal Muhammad (24-4 MMA, 15-4 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 265 (ESPN+) co-headliner at ABHA Arena in Doha, Qatar.
“Look at the UFC doing the right thing. Look at that,” Machado Garry said. “You know what my reaction is to that? It finally looks right. We’ve got rid of (Kamaru) Usman, we’ve got rid of Leon, we’ve got rid of Colby (Covington). They’re all gone, they’re all out of there, and the new generation is here.
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“That’s how it should look right now at this point in time. Come this weekend, when I knock Belal out, I shall take that No. 1 spot. I’m fighting for the No. 1 contender fight. When I win this weekend, this entire welterweight division revolves around me.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Ian Machado Garry: New UFC rankings are silly, but understandable
