It’s official! Ian Machado Garry will fight welterweight champion Islam Makhachev at UFC 330 on August 15th. The fight was announced last Wednesday after months of speculation, and now we’re left wondering how Garry — who is a big underdog coming into their fight— will try to fight the mighty Mak.
In a new video on his Instagram page, Garry admitted “I don’t think Islam has a lot of weaknesses.” But “The Future” did tout his own strengths.
“He’s never fought someone as long and tall as me,” Garry said.
“He’s not fought someone as fast as me. He’s not fought someone who has the distance management, the boxing capabilities, the head movement that I do, but also the takedown defense.”
The big question is how Garry can handle Makhachev’s infamous wrestling and ground game, which he used to completely nullify Jack Della Maddalena in his last fight.
“He might get me down,” Garry admitted. “I hope he does, cuz I want to prove to the world that he can’t submit me. I want to prove to the world that I can get back up. I want to prove to the world that I can beat him in his own world. I don’t care how long he’s trained in that area. I don’t care if he’s an internationally recognized master of Sambo or not.”
“I’m going to bounce him on his skull. I’m going to take his title. I’m going to take his throne. And I’m going to finish that consecutive win streak. And I’ll always be the guy that stopped history from happening.”
Garry has always been extremely confident in the face of big challenges. No one expected him to put up a fight against Shavkat Rakhmonov, yet Garry took “Nomad” to the absolute limit. He stumped Carlos Prates, and made beating former champ Belal Muhammad look easy. Can he give Makhachev some looks that the two-division champ hasn’t seen before? We have our doubts, but to be fair, Ian has proved us wrong so many times in the past that we’re always expecting to be surprised.
