Ian Machado Garry proved the haters wrong once again with an impressive performance against Carlos Prates, picking apart the Fighting Nerds standout for the first three rounds before hanging on for a decision victory, 48-47, 48-47, and 49-46 across five rounds.
Considering Garry was stepping in on short notice while Prates was coming off a full camp, he did a good job of hanging in after his cardio started to wane. With that win on his record he moves to 16-1 MMA and 9-1 UFC … and he has big plans for “The Future.”
“Dude, I felt great,” he said of his winning effort. “I was faster. I was more clinical. My fight IQ was on point. I did everything I thought I was gonna do except finish him, but he he hits like a truck. He kept coming forward, and you could see the experience he’s had in Muay Thai show off.”
“At the end of the day, you have to understand this guy had a full camp, [I had] twenty five days notice, back-to-back short notice fights against two of the best in this division, two of the most dangerous in this division. And I went out there and showed the world that I can beat anyone, anywhere, anytime, and I can look f—king great doing it.
“I dominated that man for four, five rounds,” Garry declared. “And he had a couple moments of success, but I would I would think he would considering he’s one of the the dangerous man in the division.”
With this win under his belt, Garry is already looking ahead to the welterweight title. That’s being contested when champion Belal Muhammad fights Jack Della Maddalena on May 10th at UFC 315. Despite that being two weeks away, Ian says he’s showing up and Dana White confirmed the Irishman is the official backup should anything go sideways at the last minute.
“If I’m doing a back-to-back thing and saving your ass, you gotta give me the reward,” he explained. “And I told you, I’m a glass half full [guy]. I didn’t need that [backup] part, but I told them I want that. I want the reassurance that when I get this [title shot], I get what I deserve. I’m the official backup, and I’m next.”
“Whoever wins that fight, if that fight goes ahead, that’s my next opponent. You don’t take back-to-back short notice fights — twenty one days and twenty five days notice against the most dangerous guys in the division — and not get rewarded for it. I am one of the best welterweights this world’s ever seen. I’m 27 years of age, 9-1 in the UFC. It’s my tenth fight. I’m on a roll, and I’m just gonna get better and better and better.”
“If one of those guys slips up in two weeks, you best believe I’m gonna be ready for everything. And that belt is coming back home to Ireland.”
It doesn’t end there. After Garry takes the 170 pound strap he sees himself taking the No. 1 pound-for-pound spot as well.
“There’s a certain pound-for-pound No. 1 who wants to come up, and his name is Islam Makhachev,” Garry said. “I have nothing but love and respect for that man and his style, and it’d be an honor to share the octagon with him. I would love to go out there and prove against him in my first title defense that I’m the P4P No. 1.”
“I beat him, I take that status. I win my first title defense, and then Shavkat [Rakhmonov] gets the rematch. And I’m gonna go out there, and I am going to dismantle that man and prove that he never won that fight. And that’s my next three fight plan. That’s how I see it going, and I don’t want it any other way.”
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
