BOSTON – Pardon [autotag]Ian Machado Garry[/autotag], but he’s a little pissed off heading into UFC 292.
Garry was supposed to fight Geoff Neal, who’s No. 8 in the official UFC welterweight rankings, on Saturday at TD Garden, but Neal withdrew last week, so instead he’s facing another Neil (different spelling) in No. 11 Neil Magny.
It’s funny how things work out – because Magny (28-10 MMA, 21-9 UFC) is who No. 13 Garry originally wanted. But undefeated Garry (12-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) was hyped about the chance to make an even bigger splash against a higher ranked opponent in Neal.
Garry’s anger and frustration heading into UFC 292, he said, is really for the fans more than himself.
“This is the thing with the fight game: It’s infuriating at times,” Garry told MMA Junkie and other reporters of Neal’s pullout. “… It’s part of the fight game. It’s infuriating, it’s upsetting for the fans, because the fans buy into something, and then it doesn’t happen.
“Look, I’m upset with the change of opponent, because I wanted to finish Geoff Neal the way I knew I was gonna finish him. I feel like the fans deserve that finish. Now I’ve got another guy, No. 11 in the world. I’m still gonna go out there and finish him and still do it in a beautiful, spectacular fashion. But I feel like the fans are being robbed of something that they were excited about.”
Those are the words you’d expect from a fighter who’s declared that he’s carrying the UFC 292 pay-per-view card on his back.
So whether it was Neal or Neil, it doesn’t matter to him.
“They’re both irrelevant at the end of the day,” Garry said. “The fact that I’m in that octagon is what’s exciting.”
That proclamation checks out, for the most part, with Garry off to a 5-0 start in his UFC tenure. He most recently earned a Performance of the Night bonus for his first-round TKO win over Daniel Rodriguez this past May at UFC on ABC 4.
Garry’s attitude heading into UFC 292 is simple: He’s unbeatable if he fights his fight.
“You’ve just got to operate in full faith, do you, and let the world work itself around you,” Garry said. “At the end of the day, all I have to do is show up. It doesn’t matter who is in that octagon against me or where it is. As long as I show up and do what I do best, there’s no one that can beat me.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 292.