Ian Machado Garry is willing to step aside in the welterweight title picture—for one particular fighter.
Garry (16-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) defeated surging contender Carlos Prates at UFC Kansas City two weeks ago, accepting the fight on just 25 days’ notice. In the immediate aftermath, the Irishman announced he would be weighing in as the official backup for the main event at UFC 315 this Saturday, where Belal Muhammad (24-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) defends his 170-pound title against Jack Della Maddalena (17-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC).
This week, Garry revealed that he believes only the intervention of current UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev (27-1 MMA, 16-1 UFC) would be enough to bypass him as the current No. 1 contender for a shot at the winner of Saturday’s co-main event at Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
“(If) Jack does win and Islam wants to come up, everyone takes a backseat,” Garry said on Wednesday during UFC 315 media day. “You’re the No. 1 pound-for-pound in the world, you deserve that ranking, you deserve that status.
“If you want to come up and fight for that belt, then everyone will sit back and let you do so because that’s the respect that man deserves.”
Belal Muhammad has trained extensively alongside Islam Makhachev under the watchful eye of former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. Muhammad has described these training sessions as transformative, noting that Khabib's guidance has elevated him physically, mentally, and strategically, providing insights that are "worth 20, 30, 40, 50 days with anybody else."
Recently, Nurmagomedov revealed that he and Makhachev have been considering a potential move up to the 170-pound division. However, this would only occur if Muhammad lost to Jack Della Maddalena this weekend—a scenario Garry doesn't foresee happening.
“I believe Belal wins this weekend, and when Belal wins this weekend, there ain’t a bigger fight to make than me and Belal, and I want to do it in his backyard,” Garry said. “I want to do it in Chicago. I want to sell it out. I want to be the guy to do it, and I want to take his belt in his hometown.
“Belal is the champion of the world, and I think from everything that I’ve seen from him, obviously I don’t know the guy personally on a deep [level] but he seems to be a good human,” Garry said. “Seems to have his mind switched on and isn’t into some bullshit mentioned, stupid things.
“I think for him it would be a smart move to want to fight me next. Because I’m going to do all the heavy lifting when it comes to selling the card. I’m going to do all the heavy lifting when it comes to putting on a show. I’ll do all the noise. All he has to do is show up so I can win the belt.”
