Ian Machado Garry has said he is “livid” that he was overlooked for a shot at the UFC welterweight title, after Jack Della Maddalena was announced as Belal Muhammad’s next challenger.
It was announced in February that Shavkat Rakhmonov, Muhammad’s intended next opponent, had sustained an injury, leaving the champion needing a new foe. As a result, Della Maddalena was pulled from this weekend’s UFC London main event against Leon Edwards, with Sean Brady replacing him.
But Machado Garry believes he should have been chosen to face Muhammad, after he narrowly lost to Rakhmonov on points in December, in a No 1 contender’s bout.
“I had a chat with my agent,” the Irishman, 27, said in an Instagram video. “I rang him when I heard, when they told me this news, and I was livid – still am to this day.
“I had a No 1 contender’s fight where the guy now has to get knee reconstruction and is out for a year! […] I’m not fighting for a world title because I’m coming off a loss, and they’re giving it to a guy who’s been injured for a year, and they think that’s more exciting – but they’re wrong.
“The world title fight was meant to be Shavkat Rakhmonov taking on Belal Muhammad for the world title, but Shavkat apparently is out injured. I wonder how that happened…” Machado Garry’s video then cut to a clip of him repeatedly attacking Rakhmonov’s leg in their fight.
“Now they’re pulling in a guy who hasn’t fought in a year because he’s had an operation on his forearm, because he broke it in his last fight. [He] hasn’t fought in a long time, hasn’t been active, [but] they’re giving it to Jack Della Maddalena to fight Belal Muhammad because I’m coming off a loss. That’s okay, I’ll get you all. You’re all mine.”
Machado Garry’s loss to Rakhmonov was the first of his professional career, while the Kazakh’s win kept him unbeaten. That contest was arranged on short notice, as Machado Garry stepped in for an injured Muhammad. The Palestinian-American had been due to defend the belt against Rakhmonov before suffering a foot infection.
Once again, Rakhmonov will have to wait for a title shot, while Muhammad will make his first defence when he fights Australia’s “JDM” at UFC 315 in May.
Muhammad took the belt from Edwards in July, outpointing the British-Jamaican in Manchester. Edwards will try to bounce back on Saturday, when he faces Brady at the O2 Arena.
