Ian Machado Garry credits the time he has spent reassessing his goals as the reason he will going into his UFC 303 contest against Michael ‘Venom’ Page with a championship mindset.
The charismatic Irishman will make the walk to the octagon for the eighth time when he faces UK MMA veteran ‘MVP’ at the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday (June 29) night.
It came as a surprise to when it was announced that the contest would be the one to open the UFC 303 main card, with many fans thinking it would serve as the co-main event. Speaking to Ariel Helwani on yesterday’s episode of the MMA Hour, Machado Garry admitted he could have quite easily seen the fight higher up the card, but is more than happy to open main card proceedings. He said:
“I absolutely think it's the second biggest fight on the card. Obviously, when you put a title fight on the card, it's always huge. But there's so much eyes behind me and MVP in this fight. It's going to be huge. It's going to be massive. And to open the card and to really just start the show with a bang, two elite athletes going at it on a massive stage for Europe.”
As well as having an incredible skillset, the 26-year-old is one of the next generation of fighters who realises how important the full fighter brand is, and has constantly kept himself at the forefront of fight fans’ minds. However, he appeared to have taken somewhat of a back seat heading into UFC 303 and discussed the reasons for this.
“Absolutely, it's been a conscious decision (to take some time away from the limelight). I've been nonstop for the last since I joined the UFC. And before, you know, I was I'm so active. And for me, it was time to just. Right, take a refresh, slow down, really realign my focusses my goals, my dreams and my priorities.”
It had initially looked like ‘The Future’ would take on Colby Covington at UFC 303 but the bout never fully came to fruition, and it was decided the Page contest would go ahead at the T-Mobile Arena instead. Prior to the MVP fight being confirmed, Machado Garry had made no secret of the fact that he was not, at all, interested in facing anyone further down the rankings than himself and when asked if this was still the case going into a fight against a lesser ranked opponent, Machado Garry doubled down on his comments. He said:
“I’m still not interested in it, I have no interest in it, I told you. Here’s the way I look at it. I'm undefeated. I've beaten everybody put in front of me in in the best way I believe I can. And I go out there and I get my hand raised any way, shape or form possible. That is my job. When I do that, I fight up because my goal is to be the world champion.
“I am looking at the guys above me. There’s six or seven guys ahead of me. There's Gilbert. There’s Shavkat, there’s Jack Della Maddalena, there’s Colby, there’s Usman, Belal, Leon. All I've done in my career is win, I deserve to fight one of those guys. I have to fight one of those guys because that is my projection, I’m on a projection to be one of the world champions, on a projection to be one of the biggest stars in sports ever seen.”
He then went on to explain why how the aforementioned realignment of his thoughts played a crucial factor in the Irishman preparing for his fight on Saturday night. He continued:
“I have no interest in fighting below me. I've already fought 15 in the world, 10 in the world, 8 in the world. Why on earth would I want to fight number 13. I still have no interest in fighting, Michael. I have no interest in fighting him. So when I say, you know, I want to kind of realign my focus and everything like that, the shift of energy and the shift of focus for me is, when I get that belt wrapped around my waist, I'm going to be fighting whoever the people believe is the next best guy worthy of that title shot, whether he's one, whether he's two, whether he's six, whether he’s nine in the world. And I want to put on them shows. So this is the first time I'm stepping into an octagon with that championship mentality of I am better than you, I'm going to prove it.
“That is all my job is, is to go out and prove that there's a reason you're ranked below me. There's a reason I'm ranked higher than you. Now it is to go out there and completely outclass MVP in any way, shape and form necessary to get my hand raised.”
You can watch the full interview, below:
