Ian Garry already hanging with Leon Edwards and Shavkat Rakhmanov on the feet

While there are still questions that need answers surrounding the skills of rising Welterweight prospect, Ian Garry, you certainly can’t doubt his self-confidence.

Garry is coming off an impressive win over Song Kenan at UFC 285, which saw him battle back from a bad knockdown in the first round. Not only did Garry recover, he took the fight over and battered Kenan. With one minute left in the fight, he shifted gears and put the pressure on his opponent, earning a violent technical knockout win (watch highlights here).

There’s a lot of potential in young Garry, and that’s being coaxed out by all the killers he works with at Kill Cliff FC. The list of impressive fighters he trains with includes the likes of Leon Edwards and Shavkat Rakhmanov, and Ian insists they’d agree that he’d give them a run for their money in a real fight.

“If you ask Leon, go find Leon and ask him, ‘If you fight Ian on the feet, could Ian win?’ He’d say ‘Yes, he could,’” Garry suggested on The Ariel Helwani Show. “Leon would sit there and go, ‘Maybe I’m a bit cleaner on the feet.’ He might argue his case. But, that’s not the question! the question is, ‘Could Ian win?’ I guarantee you he’d say, ‘Yes.’ If you ask Shavkat the same thing, I guarantee you he’d say, ‘Yes.’”

And that’s not even taking into account Ian “Machado” Garry’s ground game.

“This is the thing: the world doesn’t know what my grappling is like,” he said. “Everybody assumes I’m a striker, everyone assumes I’m all on the feet, you take me down, you can suffocate me. So f—ing do it then! Do it! Let’s see.”

Garry is set to fight Daniel Rodriguez at UFC Vegas 73 on May 13, 2023, and he’s hoping to show off some of those grappling skills ... after beating Rodriguez to a pulp.

“You know what would be the biggest success in this fight?” Garry concluded. “If I hit him so many times that Danny shoots. If Danny shoots ... I don’t think he’s had a single shot in the UFC. So, if I make him shoot, I’ll have broke him. And that’s the point when you’re watching, ‘He f—ing shot, he’s done!’ You can take off your top and start waving it around.”