It’s safe to say the rivalry between Sean Strickland and Ian Garry isn’t going away anytime soon.
On Saturday night (January 20), Strickland is scheduled to defend his middleweight world title for the very first time as he meets South African knockout artist Dricus Du Plessis in the UFC 297 headliner. Hours ahead of their highly anticipated clash, Strickland was speaking with members of the media when Ian Garry’s name unsurprisingly came up.
Strickland and Garry have been jawing at one another since late last year when the 185-pound king targeted the welterweight contender’s unconventional relationship with his wife and TV personality Layla Anna-Lee. Strickland’s biggest issue was the fact that Anna-Lee, who is 14 years older than Garry, wrote a guidebook for older women looking to date young athletes and celebrities. Garry and his wife later came out explaining that the 11-page publication, entitled How to Be a WAG, was meant to be satirical, but that didn’t stop Strickland from levying accusations and dubbing Anna-Lee a “succubus” and a “predator.”
Since then, Garry has made it clear that he plans to move up to middleweight and settle things with Strickland inside the Octagon.
Asked about Garry’s intentions during Wednesday’s press conference, Strickland delivered another profanity-laced rant that targeted ‘The Future’ and his marriage.
“The cuck? Does he really want to fight me,” Strickland asked before getting clarification from a member of the media. Ian Garry is such a f*cking c*nt. When you guys interview him, do you ever ask him, ‘Hey, what are you going to do when she’s 60 and you’re 40? Are you allowed to f*ck other women?’ God, I hate the f*cking guy so f*cking much.
“If Ian Garry was right in front of me, I’d f*cking fight him. Ian Garry is a piece of sh*t. I think we can all agree that Ian Garry is a piece of sh*t.”
Ian Garry was expected to make his return to the Octagon last month at UFC 296 against Vicente Luque, but the Irishman was forced to withdraw after coming down with a case of pneumonia days ahead of fight night. He has since been booked for a clash with Geoff Neal at UFC 298 on February 17.
Fighters and fans immediately accused Garry of weaseling his way off the card to avoid the barrage of insults waiting at the event’s pre-fight festivities.
“Ian Garry is a f*cking weak man and that’s what I try to tell people,” Strickland continued. “You meet these c*nts all day long and they smile and they shake your hand, but really their core is f*cking rotten. You look at me, I’m an a**hole. I say hard sh*t. I’m just saying what you’re thinking. Ian Garry is a c*nt and he hides who he is.”