Athletes
Ian Machado Garry Wants To Earn His Shot
Inspired By His Irish Hero And Backed By His Brazilian Team, Ian Machado Garry Is Ready For Another Big Performance At UFC 303.
It’s UFC International Fight Week, and Ireland’s Ian Machado Garry is set to play a starring role at UFC 303 as he looks to continue his rise up the welterweight division with a victory over England’s Michael “Venom” Page.
Machado Garry arrived for his sit-down chat with UFC.com with his family in tow, and conducted a little on-camera chat with his son, Leandro, before getting his interview underway.
“I love fight week. I love Vegas. Everything about Vegas I adore. We had our first baby scan here, we got married here, I fought here. I love it,” Machado Garry said.
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“The energy is different. And especially when you're coming here on International Fight Week, where you know there’s hundreds of fighters, the elite of the elite. And to be able to step into the Octagon this weekend, it excites me, it gets me ready.”
That excitement would have been at an even higher level had Conor McGregor still been at the top of the UFC 303 fight card. To say that “The Notorious” has inspired Garry to his MMA successes to far would be to underplay the former two-division champion’s influence, as Machado Garry explained just how much of an inspiration McGregor has been in his career to date.
“Everything. I mean, when it comes to inspiration, he's inspired me as much as any person on the planet could to follow your dreams to visualize and manifest the way that you know you can,” he said.
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“To understand that, no matter what anyone says, go out and do you, and be unapologetically you.
“He has shown up under the bright lights – every fight that he's been in, he’s showed up. And there's a reason why everyone on the planet knows his name. There's a reason why he's the biggest combat sports athlete, arguably, of all time, to a certain extent, other than Muhammad Ali.
“Everyone knows who he is because of how true who he is to himself. He's true to himself. He is unapologetically him and I love that, and I learned from that. And I'm doing it my way. So, every bit of motivation or inspiration, I've got this from him.”
That inspiration may have gotten Machado Garry to this point in his career, but his dreams of sharing the UFC 303 card with his idol were dashed when McGregor was ruled out of the main event through injury. It means he is now left to fly the Irish flag by himself as he gets ready to compete in a matchup that, as he made very clear, he just isn’t overly enthused about.
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“I’m still not remotely excited about it. I wasn’t then – I've been vocal about it. To this day, I'm still not excited about it,” he admitted.
“But I'm grateful. I’m grateful that he said yes when many, many, many people didn’t. I'm grateful that he's stepping into the Octagon with me on Saturday night. I'm grateful he's here, and I'm grateful he's given me the opportunity to go out and use him as an example.”
While he’s pleased that Page is providing some opposition for him on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena, Machado Garry doesn’t view the fight as one with a huge upside for him as he looks to continue his ascent up the UFC’s welterweight rankings, where he currently sits in the number seven spot.
When asked if an impressive win over “MVP” will edge him closer to a title shot at 170 pounds, he said, “The guy has one win in the UFC. Yeah, beating him doesn't do that. Yeah, he needs a lot more than that.
“He never won a f*****g world title in Bellator, let alone coming in here and doing anything crazy. I genuinely don't see any world where knocking him out, finishing him in the most beautiful way, gets me a title shot, because he just hasn't done enough to warrant that massive jump. And to be honest, I don't want that.
“I want to have one or two more against the elite guys in the division that have been here for a long time, that have fought the best. Run through them, and then there's no opportunity for anyone to say, ‘Oh, he doesn't deserve this.’ I'm going to earn it, every step of the way.”
In order to earn it, Machado Garry has been putting in tireless hours perfecting his craft at the legendary Chute Boxe gym in Curitiba, Brazil. It’s Garry’s home away from home, and he sees his coaches and training partners as not just as a team, but as a family.
When we asked him just what made Chute Boxe the perfect fit for him, his answer was a simple one.
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“Energy. Energy is everything in life,” he explained.
“If I walk into a room and I'm flat, everyone feels it. When you walk into that room, it's a family connection, energy. You know everyone has got your back.
“And this fight camp I learned that more than ever that this team has me, and this team has opened their doors and they will defend anyone that tries to come in. They are special, and to everyone at Chute Boxe, I love you. We’re family. We’re all in this together.”
Page brings a unique fighting style into the matchup this weekend, and the Englishman has a highlight reel full of spectacular finishes. But despite his opponent’s flashy resume, Machado Garry doesn’t rate Page as highly as some of his past opponents.
“I think he's going to be the person that demands the most patience, but I don't believe he's the most dangerous,” he explained.
“You could argue that, and that's fine if people want to say that. But, at the end of the day, I know how good I am. And I don't care how good he is. I'm going to run through him, and that's it.”
That confidence in his own abilities comes from his fight camp, where Machado Garry explained that, rather than fixating on his opponent’s style and how to combat it, he has instead concentrated on sharpening his own skills.
“(I’ve been) Focusing on me, and entirely me,” he explained.
“I’m not focusing on anyone else, because if I focus on me, I will come as the best me I can, and that’s very, very, very dangerous.”
Whether running through him means getting the finish or dominating his opponent en route to a decision, Machado Garry is ready to do whatever is needed to ensure he’s the man with his hand raised at the end of the fight.
“Always, the finish is the goal. Every single fight, the finish is the goal,” he stated.
“But the single most important thing to me is always getting my hand raised, by any means necessary. So, getting my hand raised is all that matters to me. Nothing else.”
Machado Garry will be hoping that victory leads to a fight against a higher-ranked divisional contender next, and maybe even a chance to still share a fight card with “The Notorious” one a little further down the line.
“Listen, if Conor wants to fight tonight in his back garden, I’ll fight someone in his back garden with him!” he grinned.
“That’s the way it is. We’re in this together. He said, ‘When one of us goes to war, we all go to war.’ If he goes to war, I’m right by his side.”
UFC 303: Pereira vs Procházka 2 took place live from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on June 29, 2024. See the Final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
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