Ian Machado Garry had to overcome the training camp from hell in order to book his spot in the UFC in 2021.
The Irish welterweight is now one of the top fighters in the world, and narrowly missed out on a world title shot when he was defeated for the first time by Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310. He returns to action on Saturday night in his first main event at UFC Kansas City against fast-rising fan favorite Carlos Prates.
Garry began his professional career in Cage Warriors, where a number of UFC champions such as Ilia Topuria and Conor McGregor also cut their teeth. It was there that he won the 170lb title after one of the most gruelling camps both emotionally and physically of his entire career.
Ian Machado Garry split from his team days before Cage Warriors title fight
Before he was the jet-setting UFC star that he is now, Ian Machado Garry was a young up-and-comer from Dublin battling for Cage Warriors gold. In late 2020 when Mason Jones vacated the welterweight belt to head to the big show, a tournament was organized to crown a new champion.
Garry’s star power was evident from early on and it seemed from the get go that the bracket was almost set up for him to get the win. He blasted out Rostem Akman inside two rounds to get to Jack Grant in the final, which took place behind closed doors at York Hall in London.
However, problems emerged during camp as Garry and his coaching staff at Team KF fell out and split up just days out from the fight. Coach Chris Fields, who had trained him from the beginning of his professional career, has rarely spoken about the specifics in the years since.
“This was not a decision that was taken lightly,” a statement at the time from Team KF read in part. “Considerable time and resources were dedicated to lan’s training, at a cost to the club, since he made his amatuer debut a dozen fights ago.
“He attained his world title fight under the tutelage of his coaches, with the support of his team mates. Team KF is drawing a line under the matter, we will return our focus to training even more champions in the future and helping our members achieve their fitness and martial arts goals.”
He initially planned to fight without a corner, before being told by the commission in the UK that he needed to have somebody involved. As a result, he drafted in Paul Hughes, who has gone on to become one of the biggest stars in PFL.
Ian Machado Garry overcame horror injury without a corner to win Cage Warriors belt
The emotional split from his coaches was not the only hardship Garry had to overcome. In his documentary ‘The Future’ from that time period, he showed his treatment after tearing a muscle in his knee that forced him out of the latter part of his camp.
He told cameras he had to take “about four weeks off, sitting at home on my f—ing hole before the biggest fight of my life”. His doctor, referred to in the documentary as Shay confirmed it to be a ‘complete tear’ of his PCL, which can take an athlete as much as six months from which to recover.
However, with just weeks of treatment he insisted on fighting on, joking that hill sprints would be a tougher physical challenge than his opponent Jack Grant. “I’m not pulling out from the biggest fight of my life as of right now because of an injury,” he explained.
“Even though it happens – and it does happen and is something that sets people back – I’m like ‘there’s no way I am letting that’. As long as I can walk I can beat Jack Grant, that was my mindset. As long as I can stand in front of him and throw a jab, I can beat Jack Grant with one hand.
“That’s my mentality, I can jab the mouth off Jack Grant for 25 minutes and win the fight if I need to do it.”