Former UFC two-division champion Henry Cejudo believes that Ian Machado Garry’s overly-friendly attitude during his unanimous decision loss to welterweight champion Islam Makhachev at UFC 330 on Saturday night may have shut down his chance to get another shot at the belt in the future.
In the build-up to the fight, Garry’s eagerness to play the role of nice-guy by avoiding trash-talking and drama rubbed some fans up the wrong way, but when it led to him hugging Makhachev, shaking hands and patting him on the hat at times during the actual fight, even Dana White went on to put him on blast
“I felt like I think that Ian is a talented guy,” White said at the UFC 330 post-fight presser. “If he had even an ounce of killer instinct in that fifth round, he had been beating him to the body. Islam’s whole right side was beat up, his face was beat up. You don’t come out and hug and shake hands in the fifth round. That sh*t drives me f*cking crazy.”
Now Cejudo has gone one step further by not just criticizing Garry, but also suggesting that incurring the wrath of White might mean that Garry will now struggle to fight his way back into title contention.
“After a performance like that, do you think the UFC is going to give him an opportunity to fight for the title again?” Cejudo said to MMA Junkie. “He didn’t really sell the fight and it was just too kumbaya and whatnot. It was ridiculous. Dana White doesn’t like that sh*t. You heard it from him. For those fighters looking to get his attention and looking to get paid, you have to be able to sell the fight. Ian Garry just missed all the boxes. It was all about his kid, his wife, his well-being, and how he’s 28 years old; he still has time to become champion. It doesn’t work like that, Ian. If I was to give Ian advice on that, ‘Bro, the time is now.’”
Garry remains one of the leading 170lb’ers as things stand, so the reality is that he’s still got a good chance to be in and around the title picture if he can get back to winning ways.
However, with White now having branded him as lacking killer instinct, Garry’s best chance to get back on track may well be to deliver a stoppage win next time out, which would be his first since his head kick finish of Daniel Rodriguez eight-fights ago in the early summer of 2023.
