Ian Machado Garry had his way with Neil Magny at UFC 292 this past weekend (Aug. 19, 2023).
Ireland’s newest shining star continues to rise through the Welterweight ranks with an unblemished 13-0 record. At just age 25, Garry’s one-sided unanimous decision win over Magny bumped him up to No. 11 in the divisional rankings and the sky appears to be the limit from here on out.
Garry wasn’t originally supposed to take on Magny in his most recent outing, but things quickly became personal after the veteran replaced their fellow top 15 competitor, Geoff Neal. If it weren’t for one ill-fated comment at the fight week media day, Garry would have been more inclined to finish the fight rather than put on a 30-26, 20-24, and 30-26 beatdown.
“I didn’t want to hurt him, I wanted him to feel what the other side of justice feels like,” Garry told BJPenn.com. “The words that that man uttered at the UFC media day were absolutely f—king ridiculous and he should be ashamed of ever muttering the words of raising a hand to a kid or bragging about raising a hand to a kid. When I got to the desk and someone asked me about him, I could not as a man, as a person, not speak about what he said. I just had a child, so I am a protector for life, I have to protect and grow this little being that I created to grow into a man and help him along the way.
“I’d be f—king ashamed of myself if I didn’t call out Neil Magny for what he said, I’d be ashamed that my son saw that and I didn’t call him out,” he continued. “I thought he was a real f—king piece of s—t that you went on stage with a mic in your hand that you got accustomed to whopping your son’s ass. Your son’s f—king three. You should be ashamed of yourself. That is when it got personal. It was actually the next day, me and my wife had a conversation.
“I had been saying eight minutes, it was the next day that I said I would drag this out for 15 minutes,” Garry concluded. “Neil went home on a pair of crutches or a wheelchair, he’s going home and he’s thinking about his leg and how much pain it’s in. I hope that man sits down and thinks about the mistakes. All the respect was lost for that man after he bragged about beating a kid.”
The story of the fight was Garry’s strong kicking game which hindered Magny’s movement early and sat him down on numerous occasions throughout the fight. In the end, the result was that of a fifth decision victory in Garry’s career, saving the notoriously durable “Haitian Sensation” from what would have only been his third stoppage loss via strikes.
“It’s been seven years since we saw a domination in the Octagon like I did on Saturday night,” Garry said. “People talk about the finish, but I went out there and had so much fun beating him up. I put on a show for the fans, the finish is always something we look for, but if someone wants to be too tough for their own good. I have no problem dragging it out longer.”