The UFC welterweight title picture is a chaotic scene, and top contender Ian Machado Garry just made things even more complicated.
Machado Garry (17-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) picked up a unanimous decision win over former UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad (24-5 MMA, 15-5 UFC) this past Saturday in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 265 – which took place at ABHA Arena in Doha, Qatar. With the win, Machado Garry added his name to the lengthy waiting list of contenders hungry to get their shot at newly crowned champion Islam Makhachev.
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But why should Machado Garry get the next shot at the belt? For the Irishman, it’s a simple debate: Merit.
“Firstly, I want to say that I have nothing but respect for Islam Makhachev,” Machado Garry told reporters at the UFC Fight Night 265 post-fight press conference. “The guy is the pound-for-pound No. 1 in the world and the champion of my division. However, when you come into my division, and you’re the only thing that stops me that is in the way of me achieving my dreams, I’m going to make sure that I punch a hole in your head. He has to fight me next.”
Machado Garry’s resume helps make his case, he said. His lone loss came to Shavkat Rakhmonov less than a year ago, but he’s got wins over Carlos Prates, Michael Page, Geoff Neal, Neil Magny and Daniel Rodriguez, along now with Muhammad.
“There’s nobody that’s fought a deeper division, that’s fought guys from top to bottom: D-Rod, Magny, Geoff Neal, ‘MVP,’ Shavkat, Prates, and now Belal Muhammad, and I haven’t even gotten a title shot yet?” Machado Garry said. “And they’re going to throw some flashes in the pan out there? Not a chance. Not on my watch. Over my dead body. Islam Makhachev is the protege of Khabib, and I am the protege of Conor, right? This is the new wave of Dagestan. More technical on the feet, more technical grappler than Khabib. I’m a longer, faster, more versatile version of Conor. It’s the perfect fight to make. He has to take me down. I have to keep it on the feet.”
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Despite there being other contenders with solid resumes like Michael Morales, Prates, Rahkmonov and even former champion Kamaru Usman saying he deserves a shot, Machado Garry thinks it’s Makhachev’s duty to fight him.
“He can choose wherever he wants it. The ball is in his court,” Machado Garry said. “Whenever he’s ready, whenever he wants. If he wants to do it in Dagestan or Russia, I will see him there. I’m not afraid of any man walking this earth. He needs to do the right thing now. He needs to do the right thing. He has a duty as champion of the welterweight division to fight the best in the world. Tonight, I proved I’m the best in the world.”
As far as Machado Garry’s win over Muhammad, which is arguably the best in his career, the 28-year-old couldn’t be happier with his performance.
“Perfect. It was actually perfect,” Machado Garry said. “The vision was there. That’s why in the second round, after that knuckle, when he was complaining about that it was an eye poke, I knew he was breaking. The jab was breaking him. He was looking for a way out. I felt like after that moment, he started to panic. That’s when I was like, ‘Right, he’s going to go for the legs. He’s going to change his plan, and he’s going to start getting desperate,’ so I just had to switch and get smart, and be like, ‘I’m dominating this fight. He can’t touch me. He can’t catch me. I’m too quick. I’m too fast. I’m too elusive. But don’t make any mistakes. Don’t open myself up looking for something and give him an opportunity to have success.’ He did nothing. There was nothing that he did that was dangerous. I wobbled him a lot. I hit him hard, but he just kept coming.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Ian Machado Garry makes case for UFC title shot vs. Islam Makhachev
