The war of words between Ian Machado Garry and Michael Page is in full swing already.
Next month, Garry faces Page at UFC 303 in Las Vegas in a welterweight contest with potential title implications; but even so, he’s not happy about it.
“I’m not remotely interested in fighting ‘MVP,’” Garry told Lucky Block Casino. “I’m not going to lie. Not remotely interested. I’ve said this for so long, I’ve only won in my career, I’m undefeated, I’ve done everything I said I was going to do against everybody I said I was going to do it against. I’m looking for a top-five opponent, but there’s no one available above me to fight me.”
Garry is coming off one of the most difficult tests of his career, a split decision win over Geoff Neal that moved him up to No. 7 in the UFC welterweight rankings. Page, in contrast, just took a dominant decision over Kevin Holland in his UFC debut back in March to enter into the rankings at No. 13. Given Page’s history with Bellator though, Garry said that since he couldn’t get the fight he wanted, Page is the best of the bad options.
“There’s literally no one above me available to fight,” Garry said. “This is the single worst position I’ve ever been put in, where there’s no one above me and there’s only people below me. So now I have no choice if I want to fight but to look down and go, ‘Who is the biggest name, who is the biggest test that the UFC fans and the UFC operation want to see me go up against?’ If everyone’s saying Michael ‘Venom’ Page, well, then that’s the one guy to make it happen with. But I’m not remotely interested in fighting him. I believe I’m levels above him in every single way, shape, and form, and this is just an opportunity to show it, to prove it to people.”
While Garry may not be interested in facing Page, “MVP” is getting his wish. Following his win over Holland, Page called for a matchup between the two European stars, and recently called out Garry for a “fake” persona trying to copy fellow Irishman Conor McGregor. But while Page wanted the fight, Garry thinks he’s bitten off more than he can chew come June.
“You guys think this guy is good?” Garry said. “Let’s see if he says yes to the fight. Let’s see if he shows up June 27 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Let’s see if he’s willing to actually stand in that octagon. And if he is, I’ll use him as an example.”
Page then responded to Garry by mocking him on social media, photoshopping the Irish fighter over a clip of SpongeBob SquarePants.
UFC 303 takes place on June 29 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and is headlined by a welterweight matchup between Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler.