If anything goes awry with the UFC 315
headliner, Ian Garry
will be on hand to step in.
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Shortly after he defeated Carlos
Prates via unanimous decision in the UFC
Kansas City headliner, “The Future” announced his plans to
travel to Montreal for the welterweight title fight between
Belal
Muhammad and Jack
Della Maddalena on May 10.
“Twenty-one days’ notice against Shavkat [Rakhmonov]. 25 days’
notice against this man tonight. He’s a beast. Well, in two weeks’
time, I’m flying to Canada,” Garry said during his post-fight
interview. “I’m the official backup for the world title fight, and
I’m next in line for that world title.”
Shortly after that statement, UFC CEO Dana White confirmed that
Garry would indeed be the championship alternate for the upcoming
170-pound title clash.
“Credit to Ian, [he] takes these fights on short notice,” White
said at the UFC Kansas City post-fight press conference. “He’ll
fight anybody. He looked good tonight.”
Garry suffered the first loss of his professional tenure this past
December, falling to Rakhmonov via unanimous decision in a title
eliminator bout at UFC 310. When Rakhmonov was unable to accept a
fight against Muhammad in May, Della Maddalena was tabbed as the
next title challenger. Garry didn’t hesitate to voice his displeasure with the promotion’s
decision shortly after Muhammad vs. Della Maddalena was announced.
Now, it’s possible that the Irish star could get a championship
opportunity just two weeks after besting Prates.
UFC 315 takes place at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
and also includes a women’s flyweight title tilt pitting Valentina
Shevchenko against Manon
Fiorot. The main card airs on pay-per-view via ESPN+ at 10 p.m.
ET/7 p.m. PT.