The recent reshuffle at the top of the UFC welterweight division hasn't gone down too well with Ian Machado Garry.
The Irish star (15-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) has been left on the outside looking in as the UFC matchmakers plucked Jack Della Maddalena (17-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC) from this weekend's UFC London main event, and instead inserted him into a welterweight title fight against reigning champion Belal Muhammad (24-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) at UFC 315 in May.
Machado Garry last fought at UFC 310 in December, losing a razor-close decision to Shavkat Rakhmonov (18-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC), who many believed would be next in line to challenge Muhammad for the title.
"They're Giving It To A Guy Who's Been Injured For A Year"
Following an injury to Rakhmonov, Della Maddalena instead got the call to face "Remember The Name", something that hasn't gone down well with "The Future".
“I had a chat with my agent. I rang him when I heard, when they told me this news, and I was livid. Still am to this day,” Garry said in a video posted to his Intsagrma account. “I had a No. 1 contender’s fight where the guy (Rakhmonov) now has to get knee reconstruction and is out for a year! But you know, it’s not my fault. I didn’t stab his knee 20-something times and boot the leg off. I’m not fighting for a world title, because I’m coming off a loss, and they’re giving it to a guy who’s been injured for a year and they think that’s more exciting, but they’re wrong.
“The world title fight was meant to be Shavkat Rakhmonov taking on Belal Muhammad for the world title, but Shavkat, apparently, is out injured. I wonder how that happened [cuts to an image of Garry attacking Rakhmonov’s knee]. Now they’re pulling in a guy who hasn’t fought in a year because he’s had an operation on his forearm because he broke it in his last fight, hasn’t fought in a long time, hasn’t been active. So they’re giving it to Jack Della Maddalena to fight Belal Muhammad because I’m coming off a loss. That’s OK. I’ll get you all. You’re all mine.”
Della Maddalena had been set to face former welterweight champion Leon Edwards (22-4 MMA, 14-3 UFC) in the main event at this Saturday's UFC Fight Night in London, England, but has now been replaced by Sean Brady (17-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC).
UFC 315 goes down in Montreal, Canada on May 10th.
