Ian
Garry didn’t get the nod in his title eliminator bout against
Shavkat
Rakhmonov at UFC 310,
but he believes he should have been the next man in line for a shot
at welterweight gold.
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However, when Shavkat
Rakhmonov was unable to accept a fight against reigning
170-pound champ Belal
Muhammad at UFC 315
in May, the promotion instead tabbed Jack
Della Maddalena to receive the opportunity.
“I had a chat with my agent. I rang him when I heard, when they
told me this news, and I was livid. Still am to this day,” Garry
said in a video on Instagram. “I had a No. 1 contender’s fight
where the guy now has to get knee reconstruction and is out for a
year. But you know, it’s not my fault. I didn’t stab his knee
20-something times and boot the leg off. I’m not fighting for a
world title, because I’m coming off a loss, and they’re giving it
to a guy who’s been injured for a year and they think that’s more
exciting, but they’re wrong.
“The world title fight was meant to be Shavkat Rakhmonov taking on
Belal Muhammad for the world title, but Shavkat, apparently, is out
injured … Now they’re pulling in a guy who hasn’t fought in a year
because he’s had an operation on his forearm because he broke it in
his last fight, hasn’t fought in a long time, hasn’t been active.
So they’re giving it to Jack Della Maddalena to fight Belal
Muhammad because I’m coming off a loss. That’s OK. Don’t worry,
I’ll get you all. You’re all mine.”
Garry entered UFC 310 with a 15-0 career mark that included eight
victories in the Octagon. The 27-year-old Irishman doesn’t think he
was wronged on the scorecards, but he does believe that he was very
close to defeating Rakhmonov.
“Do I think I won the fight against Shavkat? No. I believe on that
night and to this day that Shavkat won three rounds and I won two,”
Garry said. “But I was very close to winning that fight…In my mind,
I was a takedown away from winning that fight, and I would love to
run it back one day, and I would love to avenge that loss. And I’m
excited because I believe that guy is going to hold the belt one
day. We said it. We both knew, and I said it that fight week, I
believe me and Shavkat are going to meet each other far more than
once in our careers.”
With a title shot not currently in the cards, Garry is targeting a
return to action at UFC 317
on June 28.
“I don’t care who. I don’t care who they want to put in front of
me,” he said. “I just want to fight and prove that I’m the best in
the world.”