UFC welterweight Ian Machado Garry seems to be intent on the UFC’s “Irish guy blueprint”. Garry recently appeared on The MMA Hour to discuss his recent landmark win over Daniel Rodriguez and his immediate future with the promotion. Right at the top of Garry’s priority list is bringing the UFC back to his hometown of Dublin, Ireland.
“If I’m getting Irish support in Ireland, in Dublin, there’s never going to be anywhere else where it’s going to be louder than when I’m at home and I feel like the Irish deserve the support.
Ian Garry Promises To Bring UFC To Dublin
The Irish deserve the crowd, they deserve the show of the UFC coming back to Ireland. We’ve done so much for the sport. The sport is booming right now at the moment. I’m absolutely smashing it. I’m going to be ranked 15 tomorrow.
You’ve obviously got Conor on the comeback, whenever he’s back against Chandler. And then you look at it, we’ve got three Cage Warriors Irish Champions. We’ve got Caolan Loughran, we’ve got Paul Hughes, we’ve got Rhys McKee. Those boys are all on the verge of signing for the UFC now, so it is inevitable that the UFC are going to come back.
They’re going to come back to Ireland and I’m the guy who is going to make it happen and I’m excited for it. I believe that after this fight, when I beat Neil Magny, when I smoke someone else in that top 15, that I’m going to be able to pull them back to Europe to get that Irish base breathing again.
To get everybody hype, get that fire burning, and then watch all these guys follow behind me to the UFC and just set the stage alight again.”
Garry acknowledged that there’s an even bigger name in Irish MMA who’s likely to headline, but given the chance, he wants top billing. “I told them that I want them back and [UFC President] Dana [White] sat and said, ‘I know, we’ll work on it. We’ll try,.
That’s all he can say. He’s kind of a bit of a yes man, he has to say yes at that point in time, but I believe that he’s absolutely going to make it happen.
I believe when you see the star power that I possess, in Charlotte, when you see the performance that I showed up with and you think about that was the best opponent I’ve ever fought in many people’s minds.
That was against the toughest guy I’ve ever fought in many people’s minds. Why wouldn’t we go and do that in Ireland and why wouldn’t we go and do it against someone who’s going to bring in the fans?
Could you imagine me vs. Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson as the main event in Dublin, Ireland, and then stack the card with Irish and European talent from top to bottom. You wouldn’t have to sell any other fighters, you just have me and Wonderboy and it would sell it out.”
