UFC newbie Ian Garry doesn’t want similar push to Chimaev but confident he can mix it with welterweight division’s elite
IAN GARRY is in no rush to mix it with the elite of the welterweight division – but that’s not because he has any doubts over his skillset. The surging Irishman is 2-0 in mixed martial arts’ premier promotion following back-to-back wins over Jordan Williams and Darian Weeks. Garry has already showcased much of the […]
IAN GARRY is in no rush to mix it with the elite of the welterweight division – but that’s not because he has any doubts over his skillset.
The surging Irishman is 2-0 in mixed martial arts’ premier promotion following back-to-back wins over Jordan Williams and Darian Weeks.
Garry has already showcased much of the potential many European fight fans saw in him during his Cage Warriors days.
But being rushed to the top like fellow divisional prospect Khamzat Chimaev – and other talents of the past – isn’t on The Future’s agenda.
He told SunSport: “The reason for me going at a steady pace is to be a better version of me every single time.
“Give myself more time to grow between camps, more time to learn and just have a better skill-set every time I step into that octagon.
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“If I was to rush myself, I’m not giving myself that progression.”
Garry’s slow and steady approach also stems from not wanting to buy into the immense hype around him.
He admitted: “It’s very easy to fall into that [mindset of], ‘Oh, I’m amazing.
“I can get to that point. I train with the best guys on the planet in one of the best gyms in the world.
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“I train with Gilbert Burns every day, I’ve sat there and done MMA rounds with Vicente Luque, Logan Storely, Jason Jackson.
“I’ve been through the fire in that gym. I know the level that I’m at – which is brilliant because I can then see it when I’m in the gym.
“And it’s like, ‘S***, I’m this good. Now imagine when I have another two years behind me when I’m 7-0, 8-0 and 9-0 in the UFC. 18-0 in general.’ That’s the mindset that I have.”
Garry is confident he will have improved to the point where he’ll run through whoever is placed in front of him when the time comes to make the jump up in competition.
He said: “When I’m ready to flip that switch and go for a world title run, I’m gonna own the division. And I’m gonna own it for a long time; until I decide I’m done with it.
“So the longer it takes me to build up my skill-set to where I feel like I can do anything I want at any given point; I want to beat people where they’re at their best.
“If I’m against a wrestler, I want to be able to out-wrestle him. If I’m against a world-class grappler, I want to be able to out-grapple him.
“If I’m with a world-class striker, I want to be able to out-strike him. It takes time to get to that point.
“I’m close to it already, but I want to be better, I want to be better, I want to be better, so that everybody is more f****d when I get there.”
Unlike his explosive first outing against Williams, Garry ended up going the distance with fellow rookie Weeks.
And the Dubliner, who turned in a flawless performance against the American – reckons hearing the final horn, in the long run, will do him the world of good.
He said: “It is obviously going to be beneficial to have that experience, have those rounds.
“I won that fight very, very easily and there’s still so much I can take out of it to go back and change in my game so I can be a better version of me next time.
“Would I have had that if I had a finish? No, but then I would’ve had two knockouts, or two finishes, in the UFC.
“Either way, I don’t really think it’s a bad thing. I think you can take the positives from both outcomes. Going in there and getting a knockout would’ve been amazing.
“Going in there and getting the 15 minutes is great experience. Both of them are positives. Because at the end of the day, I came out the winner in both outcomes. And that’s always the main thing.”
While some fight fans were critical of his performance, the 9-0 Garry only sees positives from his second octagon outing.
He said: “I think it’s great experience [for me] and you can never complain about having a 15-minute fight and coming out untouched.
“It was dominance, it was fun; I enjoyed every second of it. It was a bit more calculated [than my last fight].
“I think he parked the bus a bit so I had to be aggressive for him to counter and then for me to counter him.
“So it was one that I had to kind of sit and think about a bit more. I would’ve loved to have got into the flow earlier.
“It took me ten minutes to get into the flow because he was being a bit stagnant and wasn’t doing anything.
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“And then in the third round, my coaches were like, ‘Just go in and do it. Go in and dance, go in and do what you do best.
“‘Just be fast, be snappy.’ And then I started to piece him up even more so than I had done.”