Ian Machado Garry has slammed former title contender Colby Covington for ‘avoiding him like the plague’ ahead of UFC 310 this weekend.
Garry has also revealed his path to become a two-division UFC champion, which was a feat first achieved by Conor McGregor.
Ian Garry is getting closer to a title shot
The 27-year-old was a last-minute replacement at UFC 310 for Belal Muhammad, who was forced to withdraw from his title bout with Shavkat Rakhmonov following a grotesque bone infection.
Muhammad, who won the welterweight title for the first time by defeating Birmingham’s Leon Edwards at UFC 304, was originally scheduled to fight Rakhmonov in the main event.
However, due to his injury, Garry was called upon and he now faces Rakhmonov, with the winner likely to face Muhammad next year.
Garry has gone back and forth with many of his divisional rivals en route to the summit of the UFC welterweight rankings.
He was originally scheduled to face Joaquin Buckley at a UFC Fight Night card in Tampa, Florida, on December 14, but the latter now faces former title contender Covington.
Garry has said numerous times that he wants to be the man to retire Covington, who has targeted the Irishman and his family in crude call-out videos this year.
“How do you think I feel?” Garry said to Ariel Helwani, when asked about Covington stepping in to fight Buckley.
“Because I’ve been screaming and shouting about fighting that man from the rafters. This man’s made videos about me, my wife, and my kids.”
“He’s talked all this s*** and here’s this man avoiding me like the plague.
“And then the second I book in against the scariest man in the division, he’s like: ‘Aw, I’ll fight in Florida.’ It just shows that he’s a coward. That he wants nothing to do with me.
Covington has been a top welterweight contender for yearsCredit: Getty
But was embarrassed by Edwards in his last octagon appearanceCredit: Getty
“And the truth is I know I’ve already beaten him. I know I’ve already mentally beaten him.
“He’s weak. He’s an absolute coward. And I believe he’s going to go out there and get steamrolled by Joaquin Buckley.”
Should Garry beat Rakhmonov he will be in prime position for a world title shot against Muhammad.
But the task at hand is certainly not an easy one, considering his Kazakh opponent is unbeaten in 18 professional MMA bouts.
‘Nomad’ made his UFC debut in October 2020 and has submitted all but one of his opponents via a rear naked or guillotine choke.
In his last octagon appearance, Rakhmonov made easy work of Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson by handing the American his first-ever submission defeat during his 12-year UFC career.
Shavkat has a 100% finish record inside the UFC octagonCredit: 2023 Zuffa LLC
Garry, however, is a former Cage Warriors champion and is also unbeaten in all 15 of his pro MMA bouts.
He followed in the footsteps of McGregor when he was crowned Cage Warriors’ welterweight champion in 2021 and wants to replicate another one of The Notorious’ feats.
“I’m a young kid who dreamt of being here, who wanted to see my face on billboards, who wanted to put on shows against the scariest people in the world,” Garry added.
“I’ve said to you before, how my ideal scenario is: I fight and beat Shavkat, I win the world title, I go up to middleweight, I fight Khamzat [Chimaev] I win that belt too!
“I’m not afraid of any man. I know how talented I am. I know the gifts God gave me.”
McGregor became the first UFC fighter to hold championships in two weight classes simultaneously when he knocked out Eddie Alvarez in 2016.
Khamzat Chimaev is the current No.3 ranked UFC middleweight but is set to contest for the title soon after a flawless victory over Robert Whittaker at UFC 308.
“Here’s my ideal scenario,” Garry said. “I go out there on December 7th and I take out Shavkat early.”
“I come out of there unscathed, uninjured. I get on the mic and I sit down and say: ‘Hey, I could wait until next year when Belal Muhammad is back. Or Dana [White], Hunter [Campbell], UFC, I could walk my ass all the way down to Florida.
“And I could beat the b******* out of Coby Covington for 25 minutes. And I can prove how good I am––next week. Because that man talks a lot but he’s not willing to back it up. That would be my deal.
“I would love to beat Shavkat and the following week… bury Colby Covington and leave him dead and done in that octagon, never to be seen again.”
Garry went on to say how his bout with Shavkat is ‘essentially a world title fight’ for him, while adding he wishes to ‘make a statement’ to the rest of the MMA community.
Alexandre Pantoja puts his flyweight belt on the line against debutant Kai Asakura in UFC 310’s main event, while Ciryl Gane fights Alexander Volkov to determine the heavyweight division’s No.1 contender.
Two former Jon Jones title rivals in Dominick Reyes and Anthony Smith share the octagon for the headline prelims act.
And former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling challenges Russia’s undefeated Movsar Evloev.
UFC 310’s main card will kick off at 3am GMT this Sunday for UK fans live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and will be broadcast on TNT Sports.
The early prelims will begin at 11pm on UFC Fight Pass, with the prelims kicking off at 1am.