Ian
Garry claims to be game enough to fight down the rankings.
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Garry has long since been calling out Colby
Covington, who has avoided the matchup so far. Garry has now
given up hopes of fighting “Chaos,” whom the Irishman claims will
be sidelined until September due to an injury. Garry also claims to
have no other options of fighting higher-ranked opponents with
everyone ranked above him either injured or already engaged
elsewhere.
However, eager to stay active, “The Future” has now shifted focus
to Michael
Page. While the UFC’s return to Manchester would make sense for
the potential matchup, Garry insists on being a part of
UFC 303 on June 29 which will be headlined by the return of
Conor
McGregor against Michael
Chandler.
“I’ve said yes. I’ve said yes to that name. Him and his coaches are
deciding because he feels a bit heavy, he’s a bit heavy to make
weight in seven weeks’ time, but I’ve said yes,” Garry told
talkSPORT about a potential clash against
Page.
According to Garry, “Venom” is not the only name he has been
offered and has accepted recently. The undefeated prospect claims
to have accepted offers to fight Covington, Sean Brady
and the winner of last week’s UFC
on ESPN 56 co-headliner between Joaquin
Buckley and Nursulton
Ruziboev.
“There’s been so many at this point, you kind of lose count,” Garry
said. “I feel like I’ve gone through about eight or nine names. And
it’s like, ‘No, don’t want that fight. Not interested. The UFC are
saying they’re not interested.’ They’ve offered me Colby. I said
yes to MVP. I said yes to Sean Brady. I said yes to, I don’t even
know his name, the Uzbekistani guy [Nursulton Ruziboev] if he had
won [against Joaquin Buckley]. I said yes to Joaquin Buckley. I’ve
said yes to every single person that has come my way. That is what
I do and since I’ve entered the UFC, I’ve done nothing different. I
say, ‘Yes.’ I say, ‘What date? Where? And when?”
Garry is currently undefeated in seven UFC outings and fresh off a
split-decision win over veteran Geoff Neal at
UFC
298 in February. Meanwhile, Page made his promotional debut
with a unanimous decision win over Kevin
Holland at UFC
299 in March.
While Garry was able to maintain his perfect record against Neal,
the fight was considered somewhat lackluster by many. The
26-year-old Irishman has a different assessment of that
performance.
“Clinical. Geoff Neal is a dog, right? In my mind, he is the
hardest pound-for-pound hitter in the division,” Garry said. “He
has the most power on his hands. And when you’re fighting someone
like him who solely relies on that one punch boom power, you have
to give it all the respect that it deserves. He’s big, he’s strong,
he’s tough, he’s physical. But he’s nowhere near as quick as me,
he’s nowhere as intelligent as me, my footwork was incredible for
that fight, my combinations to shock him and freeze him, the knees,
the elbows, the knee-elbow combination to get him reaching and
extending, to crack him with that knee and hopefully slice him with
that elbow. I believe I dominated that fight entirely.”