Unbeaten welterweight contender, Ian Garry may be preoccupied by a February fight with Geoff Neal at UFC 298, however, the Dubliner claims the prospect of a future middleweight fight with rival, Sean Strickland attracts him, before mocking the latter’s much-discussed traumatic childhood.
Garry, the current number ten ranked welterweight contender, has been sidelined since he featured on the main card of UFC 292 back in August in Boston, landing a one-sided unanimous decision win over the division’s most winningest fighter, Neil Magny in Massachusetts.
Forced from a return at UFC 296 back in December, Garry was removed from the card amid a battle with pneumonia, resulting in the cancelling of a scheduled fight with training partner, Vicente Luque, and the rebooking of a bout with Neal for February.
Ian Garry addresses Sean Strickland rivalry
Releasing a ‘hitlist’ of fighters he hopes to stand opposite in 2024, Garry first penned the above-mentioned, Neal, before then listing former interim champion, Colby Covington, and finally, incumbent middleweight best, Strickland.
And divulging his desire to fight the outspoken middleweight champion, Garry, who predicted Strickland would be without his championship in tow come the end of the year, also vowed to give him such a bad beating he would forget the childhood trauma he has openly discussed.
“I’m gonna get my hands on him (Sean Strickland),” Ian Garry told MMA Fighting. “In an ideal world, towards the end of the year – I don’t think Sean Strickland is going to be world champion anymore.”
“And I believe there’s an absolutely ideal opportunity for me to step up to middleweight and give him a hiding,” Ian Garry explained. “And maybe, maybe I’ll beat him so bad that he’ll forget all that trauma from his childhood. And he can thank me.”
Slated to make his comeback at UFC 297 this month, Strickland takes on South African contender, Dricus du Plessis in a middleweight championship headliner.
Who wins in a future middleweight clash: Sean Strickland or Ian Garry?