While Ian Garry on
one hand sympathizes with Sean
Strickland’s childhood trauma, he believes that doesn’t give
the
UFC middleweight champ free reign to ridicule other fighters
and their families.
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The feud between the two started with Strickland questioning
Garry’s relationship with his wife, who is 14 years older than him.
Strickland called “The Future” a “f—ing c–k” leading up to UFC
296, and the two also had a run-in at the UFC Performance
Institute. Garry detailed the incident during an appearance on
„The MMA Hour“.
“I wouldn’t say it was a seeing, it was more of a glance, and him
being shuffled into a lift, and that was it,” Garry said. “And he
had a little snicker on his face, and I shouted something at him —
I don’t know what I shouted at him, but I shouted something at him
before I even had a chance to think. My body went straight into
fight mode, and then the doors closed. There was nothing much to
it, to be honest.”
Around the same time, Strickland also went on to feud with upcoming
UFC
297 opponent Dricus
Du Plessis, who brought up the champ’s abusive childhood during
their interaction at the promotion’s seasonal press conference.
Strickland was admittedly triggered and went on to
attack Du Plessis in the crowd while attending
UFC 296 the next day. Strickland subsequently went on a podcast
with comedian Theo Von, where he
revealed intimate details about his childhood trauma in an
emotional interview.
The reigning middleweight champion also opined that Du Plessis had
crossed a line with his trash talk, leading Garry to recently note
how the tables had turned. According to Garry, Strickland’s
childhood trauma is no excuse for the kind of trash talk he
unleashes on others.
“I don’t personally care what happened in his childhood, or what
happened in his past that has him the way he is now. I don’t care
what happened in your past. Don’t attack and project your pain onto
other people, or other people’s families, because you can’t deal
with it correctly,” the Irishman said.
“The UFC PI has mental health and has ways to deal with athletes’
mental health. Go talk to them and deal with it the way it should
be dealt with — talk about it. Get rid of it, express it, release
it, because to attack other people’s families and other people’s
loved ones because you have childhood trauma, it’s completely
unfair. It’s inexcusable. You don’t have a reason to attack other
people because you are in pain. That’s my outlook on it.”
Garry was scheduled to face teammate Vicente
Luque at
UFC 296 last month but was forced out of the bout at the last
moment due to pneumonia. “The Future” was booked immediately after
for a clash against Geoff Neal
at
UFC 298, which will go down on Feb. 17 at the Honda Center in
Anaheim, California.
Meanwhile, Strickland is set to defend his strap in the main event
at
UFC 297 on Jan. 20 in Toronto.