Ian Machado Garry wants his shot at gold after beating former welterweight champion Belal Muhammad in the UFC Qatar co-main event.
Across three rounds, Garry stuffed every single takedown attempt from Muhammad while consistently connecting with better strikes. Garry mixed together his punches with a blistering kicking game that kept Muhammad guessing.
When it was over, Garry had done more than enough to get the nod with the judges scoring the fight 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 in his favor. That makes back-to-back
wins for Garry after beating Muhammad and Carlos Prates in his previous outing.
“That man didn’t surprise me at all,” Garry said about his win. “There’s a reason he was the world champion and he hasn’t been finished in nine years. He’s just a tough guy. I’m telling everyone this now, I’m phenomenal on the feet, I’m phenomenal on the ground if you can get me there.
“I just beat the No. 1 ranked welterweight on the planet … Belal couldn’t take me down, Islam [Makhachev] you try to take me down. I’m the best in the world. You come into my division and you show up wherever you want in the world and I’ll be there. You’re done. Sign the contract and I will see you soon.”
An early exchange gave Muhammad flashbacks of his first encounter with Leon Edwards after he suffered an eye poke during a striking exchange. Muhammad was given time to recover and on the restart, he cracked Garry with a solid right hand as he continued to pressure forward against the taller, longer fighter.
Garry fired back with a good lead jab and a nasty leg kick that actually took Muhammad off his feet momentarily. Muhammad eventually closed the distance but then uncorked another solid right hand that landed clean on Garry’s chin.
Between rounds, Muhammad’s corner urged him to slow down and not rush anything. The advice paid off with Muhammad connecting with a couple of hard punches early but Garry adjusted, kicked at the leg and then went back up top with another effective combination with strikes connecting on the head.
Muhammad repeatedly got in deep on a takedown attempt but Garry did a good job playing defense and not allowing the former champion to drag him to the ground.
With five minutes remaining, Muhammad got more aggressive, realizing he might be down on the scorecards. Muhammad opened the final round with another hard right hand but Garry returned fire with one of his own.
Garry also uncorked a well-timed kick that clipped Muhammad as he continued to land with more accuracy and impact. Still, Muhammad was relentless, working his way into the clinch and peppering away with punches but unable to really employ his grappling.
As time ticked away to the final horn, Garry engaged in the clinch with Muhammad when he swiped at him with a good elbow. Muhammad fired back with another fast combination of punches but Garry was just a little quicker on the feet and more accurate during the 15 minute battle.
While not the finish he wanted, Garry just took out a former champion and he’s definitely inserted his name in the mix for the first person to get a crack at Islam Makhachev after he became champion at UFC 322.
