Ian
Garry has moved on from a potential matchup against Colby
Covington and is eyeing Shavkat
Rakhmonov next.
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Garry scored a unanimous decision win over Michael
Page at UFC 303
last weekend. UFC president Dana White disagreed with the result,
saying the fight should have been scored a draw. Garry believes
a better argument could be made for a clean sweep of the scorecards
in his favor. “The Future” noted during an appearance on “The MMA Hour” that while Page had his moments
in the second round, he clearly won the first and final rounds.
“There is more of a case to say I won all three rounds than there
is to say it was a draw,” Garry said. “That’s the way I look at it.
First round, dominated. There’s no argument in the world arguing
that. Third round, it’s pretty obvious I won… So, the first and
third are clearly mine. The second round is the one that you can
debate. I will lean and give it towards ‘MVP’ as a competitor, as
someone who was in the fight. I felt like I could have won the
second, but even I was leaning towards ‘MVP’ in that second
round…So I can understand how you’d give him the second but there’s
absolutely no basis to sit here and say it was f—ing draw. There’s
more of an argument to say I won all three rounds.”
Garry has been calling out Covington since “Chaos” went after the
Irishman and his wife with his trash talk. However, Garry changed
track and called out Rakhmonov after his UFC 303 win over “Venom.”
Doubling down on his callout of Rakhmonov, Garry explained that he
has moved past Covington.
“I’m done with Colby. I’m done with him, he’s in the rearview
mirror,” Garry said. “I think he’s running scared, he’s toxic and
I’d much rather focus on someone like a Shavkat. Someone who’s
going to show up and bring so much to the table.”
Garry had repeatedly accused Covington of ducking him, even
claiming to have signed his part of an alleged offer from the UFC.
However, White recently dismissed Garry’s claims, stating Covington
never shies away from a fight.
Meanwhile, Rakhmonov responded to Garry’s callout by offering to
remind him what happened during their sparring sessions.
Looks like Ian forgot what happened during
those training sessions. I don’t mind reminding him in the future.
https://t.co/B4a7GesXp4— Shavkat “Nomad” Rakhmonov (@Rakhmonov1994)
June 30, 2024
Asked about Rakhmonov’s comments, Garry recalled a stray instance
when the undefeated Kazakh took his wind out with a body shot
despite coach Henri Hooft’s instructions to go easy. Outside of
that, Garry claims to be faster, more technical and more talented
than Rakhmonov as a striker. While Garry admits that Rakhmonov had
the grappling advantage over him when they last trained, the
Irishman notes that he has since made significant developments in
his ground game at
Chute Boxe Diego Lima in Brazil.
“When it comes to striking, I’m faster than him, I’m more technical
than him, I’m more talented than him,” Garry said. “Is he amazing,
is he fearless? Absolutely. But I know for a fact that this fight’s
on the feet, I’m the one with the advantage. When it comes to
grappling, he absolutely had the grappling advantage over me when
we trained. He was a far superior grappler. I say ‘was.’ I have
been doing a majority of work in Brazil focusing on becoming a far
superior grappler.”
Rakhmonov has finished all 18 of his career outings so far,
including six the UFC, putting him on the cusp of a title shot.