In an exclusive interview with Games Hub, UFC star Ian Garry said Sean Brady should ‘shut up and show up on fight night’ as rumours about a potential clash continue. The Irishman also revealed his MMA Mount Rushmore and why he thinks Tom Aspinall is the greatest heavyweight of all time.
Q: So where did the ducking Sean Brady come from then?
Ian Garry: I’m in negotiations with the UFC. Sean Brady just had a fight with Leon Edwards where he was told behind the scenes that he was gonna be the number one contender. He now has to fight again, because Islam Makhachev is moving up. I’m in a position where I have proven time and time again that I’ll fight anyone, anywhere, anytime, and I’m as game as game gets. When I beat Sean Brady, I want it publicly known to the world that I’m the next in line. There’s no one skipping me. There’s no Kamaru Usman coming up. There’s no Carlos Prates coming up. I’m next in line. Shavkat comes back from injury. No, I’m here. I’m next in line. If the UFC gives that word, the UFC, stick to that. That’s something I give them credit for. They stick to that word. So I want it publicly announced that if me and Sean Brady are fighting. It’s the number one contender fight and it’s publicly announced as that. So Sean Brady should shut up and let me do all the heavy lifting and he just needs to show up on fight night and lose.
Q: So you’re definitely not ducking him then?
Ian Garry: No. Not a chance. I have never ducked anyone in my life and I never will.
Q: The fact that you can no longer hold two different belts at the same time, does that change anything in your bid to move up to middleweight or does it not matter to you?
Ian Garry: No, it doesn’t. I don’t get it. At the end of the day, they want divisions to move and champions to stay there. Nobody has done what I’m saying in a long time. When we talk about domination of the division, GSP, Anderson Silva, Jon Jones, we’re talking about a decade of domination. I want that domination. Then they have no choice. I’m not vacating that belt, I’m basically retiring that belt. There’s nobody else good enough for me to fight. I’ve done them all. That has to be a new challenge.
Q: What’s your favourite place to fight in America?
Ian Garry: Vegas is my favorite place in the world to fight. Would you rather fight in Dublin or fight in Vegas? I’d rather fight in Vegas and all the Irish travel to Vegas. So they get a holiday and they get a world title fight.
Q: What is your UFC Mount Rushmore?
Ian Garry: Jon Jones, George St. Pierre. I have to put Conor McGregor on that because there is no one that influenced the world to the sport more than that man. And I believe that that is a value that is so important. He did like eight, 1 million buys in a row, which is unheard of. I think Conor would have to put on there from a bigger standpoint than just Mount Rushmore, but what he did for the sport everyone else should be grateful for. Then the final one, based on technique and just championship mindset, I would say Anderson Silva. So GSP, Jon Jones, Anderson Silva, and Conor McGregor.
Q: On Conor McGregor again, what do you think his legacy will be for the UFC?
Ian Garry: I don’t see anyone ever being a bigger style than Conor McGregor. I think what he did and the way in which he captivated the entire world with the passion, the drive, the energy that he had, it was perfect timing. The sport was blowing up, the sport was exploding and they just needed that spearhead, that figure to be that statement.
Q: Would you say that without Connor McGregor, Irish UFC wouldn’t be where it is now?
Ian Garry: The UFC would not be as big as they are right now if it wasn’t for Connor McGregor.
Q: McGregor’s been accused of training too hard with younger inexperienced fighters in the gym, have you heard anything about that?
Ian Garry: I have not seen anything about that. I don’t know the context. Was the little lad chatting shit to him? Was the little lad a Khabib supporter? I have no idea. I need to have context to it.
(I think it’s just that he’s been back in the gym with younger less experienced fighters rather than sparring at a very high level)
Ian Garry: I’ve not heard about this. I’ve not seen it. But if you are standing in front of Connor and you are sparring, you know what’s coming your way. I’ve done it. I know what’s coming. I can feel the energy of what he’s gonna do. That’s up to them, basically. You know what you’re getting yourself into if you stand in front of that man.
Q: Do you think he’ll ever come back to UFC?
Ian Garry: As a fight fan I would love to see him back. I’ve never been able to witness it in person, and it’s a dream of mine to see him fight.
Q: Do you think he’ll come back to any of the celebrity boxing stuff? Join the WWE?
Ian Garry: I think he’s a man who has many opportunities. If he chooses to, it’s his life. He will do as he chooses, and he pleases. From a sport and media point of view, we’ll all be watching.
Q: What would you like to see?
Ian Garry: I’d like to see him back in the UFC for one more time to have a proper farewell. If it is his last hurrah vibes, I feel like it should be in Dublin, Ireland. I’d like to see him. We’ve seen what they did recently with Dustin Poirier. I feel like Connor is 10x more than Dustin Poirier has ever been for the UFC. I feel like he deserves a proper farewell goodbye, and I would love to see it. I think anybody will get the ring. That’s not a problem. I think whoever steps in that ring is getting a paycheck that will sort the rest of their life out. So I don’t think the list of fighters that would say yes to fight Connor, knowing the financial gain that it would bring would be fucking endless in the UFC. I promise you that.
Q: Another controversial British fighter, Paddy The Baddy, any thoughts on him?
Ian Garry: He’s definitely controversial. I think he’s done phenomenal in the sport. I think what he’s done so far has been amazing. I think he’s proving a lot of people wrong, and I love to see that and I wish him nothing but the best.
Q: What do you think about him, in terms of almost unionizing fighters and pushing for fighters to always be paid for interviews?
Ian Garry: I think it’s all dependent. I think it depends on who and what you’re talking about. You can’t expect everyone to be paid all the time, some people just do not have it. The truth is, for me as a fighter, I have a platform I love to give back to people who don’t have it sometimes. And I love to help sometimes. I feel like everyone is different. And I feel like what Paddy is doing in the sport is amazing. He has got an entire city of Liverpool behind him who wanna see him succeed. He’s got a lot of fans all over the world.
And it’s because he’s polarizing. People love him or people hate him either. Either way, they tune in to watch him. It’s a very, very strong characteristic to have because people want to watch you. Mohammed Ali said it best, he said, ‘watch me knock out or watch me get knocked out, you’re all gonna pay to watch me’.
Q: What about him and Colby Covington? Did you think it’ll happen?
Ian Garry: Who? Paddy and Colby? If Paddy fights Colby Covington, I’m going to go up to Liverpool, I’m going to injure Paddy and I’m going to step in that fight. Paddy, it has nothing against you, just so you know, this is for the camera. Paddy, it has nothing against you. I will break your leg so I can fight that c*nt. Little rat. He runs, that’s all he does, Colby, is just talk. He will never back it up and the last person Colby’s gonna step in the octagon with, is me.
If Paddy fights him, I will be there with my Paddy wig on, supporting Paddy, when he f*cking sparks Colby out. That’s a fact. I’ll be team Paddy all day long on that one.
Q: Any messages for Colby or just we’ll just leave that there?
Ian Garry: That guy’s a piece of shit.
Q: The final fighter that we’re gonna talk about is Tom Aspinall, he’s supposed to fight Cyril Gane in October. Who wins?
Ian Garry: Yeah, October 25th in Abu Dhabi. Tom Apsinall sparks him. I don’t see that fight getting out of the first round, right? I think Tom is phenomenal. I think he’s absolutely the best heavyweight we’ve ever seen in the UFC, and now he’s got the belt, he is the champion. I said this to Tom when I saw him in Vegas recently.
I said to him, it sucks to win the belt that way, to be the champion this way that someone has ran, or retired, or ducked, whatever way you want to call it, or paint the picture. But no one’s gonna remember that in three fights time. They’re just gonna remember what you’ve done and that you are the champion of the world and you’re the best in the division. And that’s it.
Q: Do you think he’s been mismanaged a little bit though? ’cause this is only his second fight in two years?
Ian Garry: No, I think he knew exactly what he was doing and he was hunting that fight with Jon Jones because he knew what that would do for his legacy. And it was a smart decision. I feel like Jon was playing games and didn’t want to fight, did want the fight, whatever happened. He’s focusing on defending his belt against the number one contender. I believe he wins that fight with ease and I feel like we are gonna see a domination at heavyweight we have not seen before.
He’ll have more fights, more frequently. That guy has the shortest average fight time in UFC history. I’m telling you now, he’s gonna hit people, they’re gonna be knocked unconscious and he could fight again in three months’ time. He could fight three times a year every year for the next three, four years if he wanted to and defend the heavyweight title like we’ve never seen before. And I would absolutely love to see it. I think he’s an amazing human. I think he’s an amazing fighter and I want to see him as a champion. I think he knocks him out in the first round or submits him whatever. Whatever he decides. He will do it in the first round.
Q: Your own plans for the next one to five years?
Ian Garry: Within the next 12 months, I want to guarantee myself as the next in line for the world title. I wanna win that world title and I want to prove to myself and to the world that I’m the best welterweight on the planet. I’m gonna defend that belt three times a year every year, right? I’m going to dominate the division. I’m going to take out the next contender time and time again, and then there will be a point in time where there is no one worthy enough to fight for that title. I’m going to move up to middleweight and I’m going to win the middleweight title, and I’m going to set off. Into the sunset as one of the greatest of all time. And there is going to be no doubt that my name is in that conversation for the greatest fighter of all time.
Look, if the UFC called me right now and said we want you to fight x. In three weeks time, four weeks time, five weeks time, do you know what the answer is? Yes. That’s it. There’s nothing else.
Q: You said that Leon Edwards should retire?
Ian Garry: I feel like Leon Edwards is on his way out and has been on his way out. When you watch the fight with Belal and you see Leon Edwards in that corner, he doesn’t look like he wants to be there. His team should be there for him and say, mate, I think you’ve lost the love for this. I think you’re done. But I don’t think he has a team strong enough or vocal enough to say what needs to be said. I feel like he has a bunch of yes men behind him, and we’ve seen that again happen in the Sean Brady fight.
He told his corner in between one of the rounds to f*ck off, or shut the f*ck up. I can’t remember what it was. Mentally, he’s weak. I feel like his love is gone from the game and there wasn’t much of a fighter in there at the first place. And I definitely don’t think there is any more.
I’m shocked that he agreed to fight with call Prates. I think he’s gonna get knocked out, put unconscious, and we’re never gonna see Leon Edwards again.
Q: So you don’t think you’ll get the chance to fight him then? Presumably you’re only fighting him if he beats Carlos?
Ian Garry: I don’t think he beats Carlos, but if he does and he shocks me, then fair play to him. But I don’t think we’ll ever see him after November.
Q: You’ve mentioned fighting Khamzat before, that won’t happen if you stay Welterweight, right?
Ian Garry: No, but he said he would love to come down to welterweight and go up to light heavyweight and win three world titles. Again, I’m not afraid of any man on this planet, I think Khamzat is a phenomenal fighter, he’s amazing at what he does. But I love solving a Rubik’s cube, I love solving a puzzle, and if anyone can do it, I believe I can.
Q: What about after fighting? What’s your sort of goals after that?
A: I wanna nail down every single day, consistently with a golf club in my hand, I want to have a helicopter that I travel the world playing golf in, and I would love to go professional in golf.
Do you think you could do it?
Ian Garry: One hundred percent, I’m playing off four and I started during COVID, so a little bit of consistency and just, every single day adding to that, I know what I can do. I know the mentality I have and when I put my mind to something, I can do it. I’m not talking about the PGA, I’m talking about senior level pro stuff, it could be anything. But I am going to earn an income from playing professional golf when I’m finished with fighting and it’s gonna be the rest of my life traveling the world. Gareth Bale did it after football and he’s unbelievable and now he’s got all the time in the world to play golf because he’s made all these millions being one of the best footballers on the planet and now he can just play golf. That’s my retirement plan.
And how often do you get to play?
Ian Garry: Not as much as I would like to do. I started off at 28 handicap and I got down to four right now and I believe that, that handicap is only where it is because I can’t consistently play, the single biggest thing in golf is consistency, you start to understand your shape, your, your shot distances, your control, everything, the feel of the golf club changes. The more consistent that you can play golf, the better you become, there’s no secret to it, the more time with a club in your hands, the better you become. If I can eliminate the errors and, and fix the shots and understand that feel, I can be better. I am going to play professional golf when I am finished fighting, that’s a fact.
Q: So you don’t have any intentions to open gyms, go into coaching, anything like that?
Ian Garry: I believe there’s absolutely a future for me in the coaching world, I love coaching, I love helping people, I love giving back and passing on the knowledge that I’ve attained over the years, whether I open a gym for the public and I train fighters, I have no idea whether people pay me to travel the world and help them with striking or coaching. I don’t know that one I will leave up to God and the world and see how that one unravels. I would love to box at some point, I would love to box, I don’t care if it’s for professional boxing but I would love to go out there. There are many options, there’s Misfits, there’s friends, there’s many friends I have in the boxing world that if I call tomorrow I get a contract at the highest level in boxing and trust me, I know what I can do with just gloves on my hands.
I promise you now if I quit MMA tomorrow and went pro at boxing, I’d be a world champion within 12 months, one hundred percent. If they gave me the opportunity, I’d be a world champion at boxing one hundred percent, no one would stop me.
Q: What do you think of all these kinda YouTube crossover stuff like Jake Paul?
Ian Garry: I think all of these social media influencers coming into boxing, they do something that boxers don’t do, which is gain a lot of attention and they know how to play the media game and they’re phenomenal at it and they get a lot of clicks. We should be learning from that and trying to adapt because there’s too many people who have a closed mindset and go that YouTuber boxing stuff. Well, the truth is you should look at it and go, these guys are making a lot of money, they are generating a lot of attention and a lot of people are talking about them and if boxers could take that mentality or UFC fighters could take that mentality, they’d have a lot more success.
It’s more than just Jake Paul, look at the UFC fighters that are at the top of the level polarizing figures. Look at myself and Paddy for example, people love us or people hate us, but they watch us fight. They’re interested in what Paddy’s doing in his life, Is Paddy Fat? They look up his Instagram, what’s he doing? Is he with his kids? they’re interested, he’s got people that are genuinely interested. I have people that watch all of my Instagram stuff just to see what my wife and my child are doing, let alone me, so people are interested in my life, not just my fighting. That is what generates attention, that that directly translates to the hype on fight week and when you look at my fight week numbers compared to other welterweights numbers, they’re not as big and that’s part of the sales pitch, that’s why I know I have a value more than most welterweights. Other fighter numbers aren’t as big as mine because of a bigger attention to me and my family and what I’ve created.
Q: Who’s your son’s favorite fighter?
Ian Garry: Carlos Prates, I feel like Leo’s favorite fighter is only Carlos Prates because he actually understood the buildup to the last fight, but every single day he talks about Carlos Prates and he does a little bang of the chest. I’m gonna fight Carlos Prates again at one point in time and I’m going to absolutely upset my son because I’m going to knock out Carlos Prates the next time we fight him, I’m going to finish him and I’m gonna feel so bad because I’m gonna finish Carlos Prates and I’m going to upset my little boy, and I’m going to tell him I should have been your favorite fighter from the day one and it’s your own fault and maybe now you’ll respect your old man and choose me.
But Leo and I share a very common thing, I love Carlos Prates as a fighter. I think he’s exciting to watch, he’s one of the best prospects we’ve seen in the welterweight division in a long time. It’s just unfortunate that I’m just leaps and bounds better than he is and that will always be the case. There’ll never be any fight where me and him have where I’m not faster or I’m not sharper, I’m not more intelligent, If me and him fight a hundred times, I will beat him a hundred times.
