Sean Brady doesn’t believe Ian Machado Garry has earned the right to demand a title shot following UFC on ESPN 66.
After scoring a unanimous decision win over Carlos Prates in the main event at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri, Machado Garry (16-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) laid out a three-fight plan for his path to the title. The 27-year-old also revealed he’ll serve as the official backup for the upcoming welterweight championship bout between Belal Muhammad and Jack Della Maddalena on May 10 at UFC 315 in Montreal.
However, Brady (18-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) — who recently submitted former champion Leon Edwards in dominant fashion at UFC Fight Night 255 — wasn’t impressed by Machado Garry’s performance and doesn’t think it merits title contention.
"I'm going to keep this short and sweet: Ian did what Ian does," Brady said on his podcast, "The Big Badz Show". "He f*cking touches you and runs for three rounds, then he got beat up for two rounds, then said he's getting a title shot. My man was on his hands and knees. I don't know how Prates didn't finish him in that last sequence on the ground. He had him, bro. He was done. To say after a performance like that, you deserve a title shot. He can go weigh in and be the backup fighter all he wants: That doesn't mean f*cking d*ck. You just beat No. 13. You don't deserve anything.
"If you went out there and finished him, (but) he almost got finished! I think if he (Prates) put his foot on the gas the way he did in the fourth and the fifth (rounds), he probably would have gotten Ian out of there. He started finally walking him down, had some confidence, and he won the last two rounds off of that. Ian just keeps talking about him taking short-notice fights. Cool, bro. You did two: Lost one and almost got finished in the other. That doesn't mean you deserve a title shot. Just because you're going to weigh in, you think you deserve it? No, not how it works."
When asked whether he’d be open to facing Sean Brady in a No. 1 contender matchup, Ian Machado Garry brushed off the suggestion.
"Not in my mind, that guy needs to do a little bit more, too," Machado Garry said of Brady on "The Ariel Helwani Show". "I think you could see many, many different scenarios for Sean, but in my mind, I don't think he's in my path right now. I think it's the winner of this fight (Muhammad vs. Della Maddalena). Obviously in my mind, I believe I'll win the fight, therefore Islam (Makhachev), the fact that he wants to move up to 170, so if he wants to come up, I'd more than welcome that. Then I want the rematch with Shavkat (Rakhmonov)."
