Ian Machado Garry

wow.

What he and Gary did.

I feel like he's got that touch.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

There's something about the way his setups are, but I don't know.

Maybe I'm just kidding.

No, I know, but I think he did level up immensely after that Ian Gary fight, so it is a different process in my eyes.

Like, what process is this to Jack Delamalle? Are you kidding me, dude? Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, when you put it all out there, we have to talk about why he's getting this flack, though.

Let's go to what he said after UFC 331 when he beat Ian Gary at the post-fight press conference.

Are you looking to be able to fight two times next year after Ramadan?

Bro, we have to fight before Ramadan, 100%.

what do you think about that? He said, it's good.

Makes it more interesting, right? Yeah, it's more interesting.

They offered me a fight with Proches, who recently lost to Ian Gary, someone I beat.

And if I beat him, Morales would already be next in line.

Being a good bullshitter in combat sports.

You know, like, another example of someone who is not even a defensive genius but needed to be kept on the defensive in order for their opponent to win, Ian Gary Carlos Proches.

That's a very bullshit heavy performance from Ian Gary.

And that's why he won against a guy who is now looking like the terror of his division.

Ian Gary neutered Carlos Prates with bullshit.

And that's not to say he didn't land anything, but it's low risk, low commitment, volume, and just getting the defensive reactions out of the opponent to control the initiative.

And I think if you look at this fight in that vein, you can see that one of the major keys of the turn about halfway through is that before the halfway point of the fight, Pyoryon is not successfully punishing or countering anything.

He's choosing not to defend the belt, and he's choosing to let Morales and Prates go against one another, so therefore they eliminate one another, and it's bullshit.

He's the champ, and you can't say, oh, well, I beat Ian Garry.

I beat Ian Garry that you lost to.

Well, how many great fights would we not have seen if everyone had that mindset? Hey, Bisping straight from Dubai with some good- No, no, no, no.

No, you're right.

I think there's more to the story.

Because Islam just fought Ian Gary, what, by the time this fight, what, five months ago? By the time this fight would be, so it's like, and he just turned down one fight and they're already at an intern belt? Historically, he fights once every 10 months.

UFC knows this.

Now all of a sudden they're doing an intern belt? They're not even doing an interim belt at light heavyweight.

Swearer B, did you watch the last morning combat? Luke Thomas did research and measured it and found compared to champs, Islam's fights at the exact average amount.

uh well not compared to joshua van that doesn't make sense compared to what champs you know swerve also since islam became champ four years ago him and gsp have the same amount of fights in that span they both fought once twice a year yeah gsp was super boring and also got some flack for that as well swerve so you can't say islam can't be one of the ghosts if gsp is there for you uh i don't say that um i think this The issue with this one is he asked for the fight, and then now he's like, nah, too close to Ramadan.

You're like, what was your idea, dude? You're the one right after you beat Ian Gary was like, I'm definitely fighting before Ramadan.

We're like, oh, cool.

But for him to put that out there and then it not work out, uh again emphasize all that fan pushback about his schedule and all that stuff and if he just hadn't said that or instead of saying you know i want to see the real contender these guys should fight he just said you know like i thought maybe i'd be ready before ramadan but you know something came up i'm gonna have to wait sorry everyone like i think it kind of changes the fan sentiment but it feels very low on him right now and i guess my theory about like how has this, how this played out and does he maybe just have one fight left is, and it leads into your question too.

Like he asked me in our interview before the Gary fight, like, what do you think I have to do to become like the goat? And I said, if you could, I mean, breaking Anderson Silva's winning streak and setting yourself apart was a massive tick on the resume.

But I'm like, if you can get to 20 straight wins, man, like, i don't think that's a record that's going to be touched in the ufc and he's like yeah okay and then he basically parroted that all in the lead up to the fight i want to get to 20 straight in the ufc uh stuff like that and i think that was his real intention like he he didn't seem to want to retire he made These comments about like, I love this lifestyle.

I love being healthy.

Like it keeps me, you know, mentally strong, all the stuff we kind of hear from fighters as well.

But he's obviously not one that, you know, has other vices in the same way some other people may have that's kept them in the sport like BJ Penn or something like that.

Um, but maybe they thought that Ian Gary fight was going to be much easier than it was.

And then after the fact, maybe him and Habib and whoever sat down, I don't know this, this is all speculation and questions, but maybe I said like, can't is 20 realistic or maybe like maybe one more is when we call, you know, step aside and there's all these guys that they want us to fight.