UFC welterweight contender Ian Garry isn’t paying attention to what happened when he met upcoming opponent Shavkat Rakhmonov on the Kill Cliff FC mats.
The pair of undefeated rising stars are set to do battle in the co-main event of Saturday’s UFC 310 pay-per-view at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena, where a shot at Belal Muhammad’s gold is expected to await the victor in 2025.
While it will mark the Rakhmonov and Garry’s first time colliding inside the Octagon, they are familiar with one another owing to their brief time training under the same roof in Florida.
And as they prepare to reacquaint one another with their respective arsenals, much has been made of the Kazakh revealing he forced his Irish counterpart to tap to a choke in the gym.
During an interview with talkSPORT, Garry reacted to that remark, admitting it was true but dismissing any suggestion that it could matter leading up to their clash on Dec. 7.
“Look, if he’s hanging on to something like that from training two or three years ago, then guess what? Do it on Saturday night,” Garry said. “Do it underneath the bright lights. Do it when it matters most. Let’s see if he can do it.
“I promise you now, he is not ready for the speed and the beauty. He’s going to look at me and go, ‘Oh my god, this guy’s beautiful. What do I do?’ He’s going to be left speechless,” Garry continued. “He’s going to see how fast I move and go, ‘Wow, this kid’s special,’ and that’s all he’s going to think. … It’s training. If I told you about all the people I absolutely burned and choked in training, you would sit here and say I’m the best fighter in the world already.”
Garry will look to prove those comments correct come fight night in “Sin City.”
His third outing of this year, following triumphs over Geoff Neal and Michael “Venom” Page goes down in the UFC 310 co-main event, with Alexandre Pantoja headlining in defense of his flyweight title opposite newcomer Kai Asakura.
