Michael
Morales called out Ian Garry —
along with a few other names — after a statement win over Neil Magny at
UFC
on ESPN 62.
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Moraels faced his biggest step up in competition so far in Magny,
who is widely considered the welterweight gatekeeper. The
Ecuadorian dropped Magny with a spinning elbow before finishing him
off with brutal ground-and-pound with less than half a minute to go
in the first round. Morales maintained his undefeated record while
also earning a “Performance of the Night” $50,000 bonus.
While Morales subsequently called out veterans Michael
Chiesa and Vicente
Luque, his callout of Garry stands out the most.
“Whenever there’s a fight and they want me to fight, I will be
ready to go,” Morales said during a post-fight media scrum. “I will always be ready to
fight. I want to fight in December. But as far as names are
concerned, I think there’s a couple of names out there. I think
[Vicente] Luque is somebody that is an opportunity to fight.
Michael
Chiesa, I see him around here, so that’s something. And also
Ian
Garry, we call him out, I don’t know where he is.”
Morales is expected to enter the welterweight Top 15 with his win
over Magny. The undefeated 25-year-old believes he could be a
UFC champion in another two years, which has always been his
goal.
“Perhaps Top 10, Top 5, by the end of the year,” Morales said. “I
don’t even know what position they’re gonna put me in after this
win. So I don’t know… I have always said by 27 I want be a
champion. You never know, I’m 25 here I am. I never thought I was
gonna come into the UFC that early. I was 21. So maybe Top 5, Top
10 at the end of the year.”