Ian Machado Garry just picked up the fourth win of his UFC career at UFC 285, but the 25-year-old is already planning on getting back into the cage sooner rather than later.
“The Future” experienced his most significant moment of adversity since joining the UFC when Kenan Song dropped him late in the first round of their welterweight contest. Garry survived the knockdown in order to make it to his corner, and the Irishman made sure not to slip up again before he finally stopped Song in the final minute of the fight.
The win was Garry’s first fight since last July after he elected to take a break from competing to spend time with his wife and newborn son. “The Future” indicated immediately after beating Song that he was ready to get back into action quickly, which he reasserted during an interview on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour.
“I’d love to fight on April 8th,” Garry said. “Obviously, I don’t know if the UFC will be able to turn around that much. I spoke to Sean Shelby before March 4th telling him I wanted April 8th as well, that I’m gonna go in here, I’m gonna finish this fight and I’m not gonna get injured. He said ‘Well, we’ll see what we can do, obviously let’s take March 4th and see how you get on.’ Because you never know with a fight, it’s a fight at the end of the day…So when I get on the mic afterwards, I was like ‘Hey Sean, Dana, Hunter, let’s make this happen.’ I mean, I live half an hour from where we’re fighting. Let’s get it on. I mean, to turn around in five weeks and have two performances, two finishes back-to-back after being away from the sport to take time out to be a dad and to be there for my wife, it’s a nice way to kind of get the ball rolling again and show the MMA world that I’m back and that I’m here to stay.
Garry Open To Any Matchup For His Next Fight
UFC 287 is scheduled for April 8th in Miami, and Garry went on to say that he’s not at all concerned by who might be standing across from him as long as he can get a spot on the card.
“There’s a lot of options, there’s a lot of people that offer different skillsets, different stylistic matchups. And that’s on Sean Shelby and the UFC to go ‘Right, we wanna give you this guy and see where he’s gonna test you.’ At the end of the day, a lot of people [talk] online, and they don’t sign the contract. So if Sean Shelby sends me a contract with anybody’s name on it I’ll sign it, I’ll send it off and I’ll fight on April 8th. That’s my goal. I don’t see why I couldn’t make that happen.”
“The Future” has only competed as part of PPV events during his UFC career and has put on some impressive performances, but his first main card slot might be hard to come by considering how UFC 287 already looks on paper.
The main card has plenty of fights for fans to get excited about, but the clear standout matchup is the headliner between Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya. The pair have a rivalry that dates back to their days as kickboxers, but Pereira currently hold a 3-0 record against “The Last Stylebender” after he won the UFC’s middleweight title at UFC 281.
What do you think of Garry’s plan to secure a quick turnaround and fight at UFC 287 in Miami?
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