Ian Machado Garry already knew what Saturday’s assignment at UFC Qatar required, but spell-binding stoppages from Michael Morales and former foe Carlos Prates have upped the ante.
As soon as his clash with former UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad was announced, Garry was adamant he’d need a finish to propel him to the title, which changed hands from Jack Della Maddalena to pound-for-pound king Islam Makhachev in New York this past Saturday at UFC 322. “When you knock out No. 1 in the world, there is nothing else,” declared Garry on “The Ariel Helwani Show” in October. “When you knock out a former champion, who’s No. 1 in the world right now, and you smash him in less rounds than ‘JDM’ could, then that’s all that matters.”
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The problem is, after the chaos at Madison Square Garden, there very much is something else.
In fact, there are a number of things.
Sean Brady, who made the short jaunt from Philadelphia to New York, was most people’s No. 1 contender going into the event. Per Garry’s prescription, Brady had already stopped a former champion, Leon Edwards, with a guillotine choke back in March. Offing undefeated knockout artist Morales would’ve simply put the cherry on top of his quest for title contention, but the Ecuadorian didn’t get the memo.
The youthful Goliath threw his right hand about the historic arena as if it was a live hand grenade and eventually it detonated on Brady’s chin. He delivered a spectacle, the currency preferred by UFC CEO Dana White, and immediately became one of the most talked-about fighters at 170 pounds.
Michael Morales stunned the entire division with his knockout of Sean Brady at UFC 322.
(Jeff Bottari via Getty Images)
Morales isn’t the only issue, though. Prates, a man who Garry outclassed for 24 minutes just this past April, is being batted around as a potential title challenger. Since his loss to the Dubliner, Prates has quenched the bloodlust of the UFC overlords with a spinning back elbow finish of Geoff Neal, and he’s ticked off another box on Garry’s challenger checklist by knocking Edwards stiff in Midtown.
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The idea that Prates could leapfrog a man who defeated him six months ago is a nod to the recency bias that consumes combat sports. Shavkat Rakhmonov knows all about this. He was believed to have stamped his ticket to the belt with a victory over Garry in December. Since then, he’s been sidelined with injuries and effectively removed from the conversation.
There is one wild card, of course. Kamaru Usman was repeatedly name-dropped by the newly crowned champion when asked who should get the first opportunity to end his reign. White also recently declared Usman is the greatest welterweight in the history of the promotion, perhaps forgetting the dominance of arguably the greatest mixed martial artist ever, Georges St-Pierre.
Yet Garry has a lot working in his favor, too.
As the last person from this cluster of welterweight contenders to compete, he can strike the final and fatal blow in the most “what have you done for me lately?” sport on the planet.
Ian Machado Garry interacts with fans and media during the UFC Qatar open workouts in Doha, Qatar.
(Jeff Bottari via Getty Images)
It’s often forgotten how capable Garry is when it comes to dramatic conclusions. The UFC’s fan base has been trained to celebrate stoppages over supremacy, which has earned Garry criticism for going the distance in his past five outings. However, “The Future” carries proven stopping power, as shown by his electrifying finishes of Daniel Rodriguez, Kenan Song and Jordan Williams. As well as that, he’s known to be a bit of a company man. He accepted short-notice fights with Prates, Rakhmonov and Geoff Neal, which certainly helped him win favor with the UFC brass.
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It should also be noted Muhammad is in a historically hazardous position coming off being dethroned by Della Maddalena. Both Edwards and Usman before him lost their next two fights after dropping the UFC welterweight belt, so the recent divisional trend may also work in Garry’s favor.
The Irish welterweight didn’t have the benefit of seeing UFC 322 before he claimed “nothing else” would stand in his way of fighting for UFC gold with a finish of Muhammad. But he now knows exactly what’s needed to put himself in pole position for a shot at Makhachev. He also knows no one but Vicente Luque has been able to put an exclamation point on a fight with Muhammad over the past decade.
If there is one thing we know about the Portuguese-speaking Gael, it’s that he will back himself to get the job done. And if Muhammad ends up lying on his back, staring up at the lights of the Ali Bin Hamad al-Attiyah Arena on Saturday night in Qatar, who would honestly deny Garry what he has earned?
