Ian Machado Garry made it clear to the UFC that accepting a short-notice fight against Carlos Prates came with contingencies, and his biggest demand was that a win would earn him the next shot at the welterweight title.
He did his part with a decision win over Prates at UFC Kansas City, and now Garry is set to weigh in as the backup for Saturday’s main event between Belal Muhammad and Jack Della Maddalena. While he’s ultra-confident that the UFC is going to follow through on the promise to give him a title shot afterwards, there’s one scenario where Garry admits he would have to step aside.
“[If] Jack does win and Islam [Makhachev] 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.”
As the UFC lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev has often talked about pursuing a second title, but he’s also made it clear that he would never fight Muhammad, his friend and frequent training partner. Makhachev’s coach, Khabib Nurmagomedov, doubled down on that when he emphatically stated that they wouldn’t pursue the welterweight title so long as Muhammad is champion.
Of course, that all changes if Della Maddalena wins on Saturday.
While Garry concedes he would step aside for Makhachev, given the circumstances around what it would take for him to move up to 170 pounds, the 27-year-old Irish fighter doesn’t expect that scenario to happen.
“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.”
Rumors have been swirling that the UFC is plotting a return to Chicago in the near future, but there’s no telling if Muhammad would even be available until he gets through Della Maddalena at UFC 315.
No matter his condition, Garry believes Muhammad would be a fool to pass up on fighting in his hometown so it sets the stage perfectly for another welterweight title fight.
“I think for him it would be idiotic to not want to fight in his hometown and defend his belt on home soil,” Garry said. “Regardless of who’s in front of him.”
As much as he wants to take the title away from him, Garry has a lot of admiration for Muhammad and the long road he traveled to finally become champion. There’s no real bad blood between them, and Garry promises that he will make sure to take all the promotion off Muhammad’s shoulders if the UFC books the fight.
“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.”
