Conor McGregor is one of the biggest names synonymous with Irish UFC talent and the UFC itself, until now. Ladies and gentleman, introducing Ian Garry, a new Irish-born MMA fighter who is turning heads in the UFC.
There is no hotter place on the planet for producing UFC talent than Ireland it seems right now. Ian Garry is a name that needs to be paid close attention to because he very well may be the latest Irish-born UFC champion.
The impressive tale of the tape starts with Garry’s measurements and reach. Garry is a 6’ 3” welterweight with a 74” reach. Garry is currently on a 12 straight fight winning streak, and just won his first fight in the UFC. With only 25 years of age, he seems to have a bright future ahead of him.
There is no disputing that since his huge defeat of Jose Aldo in 13 seconds to win the UFC Featherweight Championship, Conor McGregor has been the biggest name in the UFC. It is widely known that the Irish have a deep talent pool in MMA, the success of McGregor and his championship run opened the floodgates of recruiters looking for the “next” one.
Garry’s time was now. He made his UFC 268 (Usman vs Covington 2) triumphantly by defeating Jordan Williams by KO/TKO at 4:59 of Round 1. Garry came in as the betting favorite and lived up to his role. Did you bet on it? For your next bet, check out the top bookmakers online and secure the best available odds.
In fairness, however impressive his win over Williams was, it should also be noted that Garry entered his bout with Williams as a heavy favorite, and Williams had a less than spectacular overall record of 9-5.
Williams was also much more experienced than Garry. Garry took on Williams who fights out of an UFC breeding ground in southern California. Garry’s UFC #268 fight with Williams was particularly impressive because it was a knockout of an opponent who was heavier, had a longer reach, and was so quick about it.
Even though the bout lasted only 5 minutes of the first round, Garry had perfect scores for striking significant distance body strikes landed versus attempted (4/4) and had a total strikes landed to attempted ratio of nearly 70%, according to ESPN.
Garry did not simply appear like weeds growing on a green lawn, he came up fighting in Cage Warriors. Garry was full of nothing but praise for Cage Warriors. In a recent article on sportsnewswireland.com, Garry says it is massive that CW provided a platform that put on shows during a pandemic where almost everything else was shut down.
What is next for “The Future” Ian Garry? Garry wants to get what all MMA with Irish blood flowing through them wants, and that is to follow in Conor McGregor’s very big footsteps and become a UFC champion.
Garry’s ego could not have got a bigger boost than when he elicited McGregor’s cheers during the match and post-match, which McGregor shared through tweets and voice-recordings on social media.
McGregor credits the fight by Garry with inspiring him to comeback after a devastating loss and suffering a catastrophic leg injury against Dustin Poirier.
“Ireland will explode if you put me and him (McGregor) on a card together. So I’m in.” Garry exclaimed post-fight.
Garry has explosive power as a breakdown of his perfect 8-0 professional record will show. Of his 8 professional MMA fights, 5 of them Garry has either knocked out his opponents or won by TKO. The other 3 matches were made up of 2 decisions and an impressive submission with Rear Naked Choke.
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Although Garry is considered to be a newcomer, he is now in a division that is overloaded with talent at 170 lbs. Garry only began his professional career in 2019 and in that time, has piled up a list of impressive victories.
After the holidays, Garry is going to return to Florida from Ireland, meet with the coaching and training staff at his gym Sanford MMA. Garry intends to work on his wrestling with coaches and fight at least 3 times in 2022 with four months in between fights for proper rest and training.
Garry is patient and remains humbled during his rise up the UFC ladder. Without having the brash personality of a McGregor, he knows that he is going to travel a long path to greatness using his skills and learning whatever he can to improve with every fight.
