Ian Machado Garry is only getting better.
Ireland’s Garry capped off UFC Kansas City with a rebound effort on Saturday night, scoring a unanimous decision over Carlos Prates. Garry needed the win to keep himself near the top of the welterweight division after his hard-fought loss to Shavkat Rakhmonov in December, the first setback of his pro career.
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Afterward, UFC CEO Dana White confirmed Garry as the backup fighter for UFC 315’s welterweight title bout between champion Belal Muhammad and challenger Jack Della Maddalena on May 10. Speaking on Uncrowned’s “The Ariel Helwani Show,” Garry asserted his feelings about his standing at 170 pounds.
“I believe I’m next [for the title]. That’s the way I believe it,” Garry said. “I made sure that when I took this fight that I was given another opportunity, because that’s what happens when you save cards. You get opportunities. So I negotiated it into my contract — now, when I win, I get the opportunity to go and be the backup. But also, when you take back-to-back fights on short notice, you save the UFC [with] two cards in a row, those rewards pay off. And for me, there is no one more exciting in the division right now. There is no one getting as much attention. There is no one that, if you put the champion of the welterweight division versus Ian Machado Garry, that will beat that right now.
“Shavkat is out injured and I don’t believe Jack Della Maddalena wins this fight, so Belal will stay the champion.”
Garry, 27, has been on a stretch of big fights since the start of 2024. He’s remained busy and available, as noted by his past two appearances as a replacement fighter on short notice. In general, the strategy has begun adding to Garry’s allure. His hope is that if he can keep being a hero for the UFC, he will succeed.
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Considering the quick turnaround for UFC 315 in Montreal, Garry said he plans to head to Las Vegas immediately for the best recovery possible during the short time between events.
“If anybody slips up, could you imagine?” Garry said. “It would be the biggest heist in UFC history. Ian Machado Garry goes back-to-back-to-back, goes out and proves to the world that he’s not afraid of anybody, anywhere, at any time. Goes out, wins the belt on 14 days’ notice after just going five rounds with one of the scariest guys in the division [Prates] — and he pulls off the victory, and he gets that belt wrapped around his waist? That’s some cinematic s*** right there.”
Garry said the UFC hasn’t made any promises regarding his potential title shot, no matter the outcome of Muhammad vs. Della Maddalena. If needed, Garry said, he’ll enter the Octagon again.
Going off of his performance at UFC Kansas City, you’d be hard pressed to believe Garry didn’t have a full training camp for Prates. He picked apart his Brazilian counterpart and became the first man to take Prates down in the UFC. Outside of an admittedly sloppy final takedown that gave Garry a late scare, it was the fight he expected.
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“I told you I’m going to beat him at his best and there’s going to be no excuses,” Garry said. “I went out there and I dominated him for the first round all the way to the last round. I made one mistake, but other than that, I was absolutely dominant. In his own realm. In the space where he has the most fights, most experience. So there’s no excuses when he goes back home. I am the better fighter, I am the better man, and my hand got raised and he knew it.”
Ian Machado Garry continues to prove his doubters wrong after another big win at UFC Kansas City over Carlos Prates. (Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC)
(Josh Hedges via Getty Images)
Although the fight was Prates’ first UFC bout to go the full five rounds, the Fighting Nerds product maintained a solid gas tank and gained steam toward the end. Because of his aggression and pursuit of the late finish, Prates drew criticism over not initiating that pace earlier in the 25-minute contest.
Garry believes it was purely a result of his own game plan and the stylistic realities of the matchup.
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“I can’t imagine how anyone would s*** on someone like Carlos Prates trying to push at the end when you think that I just put him through an absolute pace,” Garry said.
“I looked at the stats — I threw 262 significant strikes and shot for 26 takedowns, and the world just expects Carlos Prates to up the gear? I put a pace on that man. That man was lucky to be standing in the Octagon. He came in that last round more dangerous than he did the other four because he knew he had to win. He was like a wounded animal. He was more dangerous in that fifth round, and he went out there and he tried his best. Unfortunately, his best wasn’t good enough.”
The welterweight title remains firmly in Garry’s crosshairs, starting with UFC 315 and the potential of stepping in if misfortune befalls either Muhammad or Della Maddalena. If that doesn’t happen, however, Garry may still have his work cut out for him as he sits at No. 7 in the official UFC rankings.
Among the contenders ranked ahead of Garry is Joaquin Buckley, whom Garry was supposed to fight in December until he received the call to face Rakhmonov on short notice.
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Buckley’s next fight is already booked — the main event of UFC Atlanta against Kamaru Usman on June 14 — but he didn’t let that stop him from appearing at UFC Kansas City fight week. At the ceremonial weigh-ins, Buckley lingered around Garry’s wife and son, causing a small scene that left Garry refusing to leave the stage until Buckley left. Buckley explained to the media backstage on fight night that he wanted to “see what Garry was about” after some trash talk in the past.
Should the stars realign for the welterweight contenders, Garry is open to the matchup but doesn’t see it as viable anytime soon.
“It’s just desperation. That’s all it is,” Garry said. “It’s quite sad. It’s desperation, and he can’t generate enough talk about himself by doing stuff he does, so he needs to try and piggyback off other people. It’s OK. Let him be.
“My man’s focusing on trying to get all the content he can with me this week. Meanwhile, he’s got a fight he should focus on. He should get his fight done, then we’ll see what the future holds.
“I think he demolishes Usman,” Garry added. “Again, I still think it’s Belal next. I think I win the belt like I know I can, and then I absolutely welcome an Islam [Makhachev] or Shavkat rematch. Either order, but that’s the way I’m going with it.”