Does Ian Machado Garry deserve a shot at Islam Makhachev?
UFC welterweight contender Ian Machado Garry vaulted himself into title consideration last night with a comprehensive win over former champion Belal Muhammad.
He did so by stuffing plenty of takedown attempts, in addition to keeping things sharp on the feet. With that being said, Ian Machado Garry’s promise of knocking out Belal didn’t exactly come to fruition, and that seems to be a theme of his. It also seems to be one of the things holding fans back from really getting behind him, especially given how outspoken he likes to be in the media.
At the end of the day, Ian Machado Garry has beaten some big names in recent times and you could certainly make the argument that he should be facing Islam Makhachev next. He put forward a good pitch, too, calling out the champion in emphatic fashion in his post-fight interview. At the same time, is this the fight that the UFC is ready to book right now?
The other contenders, you could argue, are Michael Morales after he dusted off Sean Brady, and Shavkat Rakhmonov. While Shavkat hasn’t been in the cage for a while due to injury, he did manage to defeat Ian Machado Garry, even if the Irishman did put forward quite an admirable effort.
Ian Machado Garry is nearly there
Knocking out opponents isn’t everything in mixed martial arts, and plenty of fighters have been able to grind their way to a championship opportunity off the back of decisions. Plus, it’s not like Ian keeps things boring – he’s just a tactical guy who leans into what makes him so good.
We would say that Makhachev vs Machado Garry makes sense, especially if you take in the ‘Dagestan vs Ireland’ element of the storyline, following in the footsteps of two Nurmagomedovs facing Conor McGregor and Paul Hughes respectively.
What we really want, though, is to see Ian go out there and put it on someone in the kind of way that Morales and Prates have been doing. He may have already done enough, but it would definitely earn him a few more fans and some more vocal support.
