Welterweight Ian Garry answered questions from the press at the official UFC Charlotte media day ahead of his main card …
Ian right here brother how are you sir you’re good what’s going on man go bro when you first got the name Daniel Rodriguez what were the first thoughts that went through your mind I got what I wanted I asked for the fight I made it happen and here we are so Daniel Rodriguez obviously an experienced guy loves to stand and trade you think your game you think you get a smile on my face yeah you know it’s coming right you know you know where it’s going of course it’s gonna be bad I believe I’m far too fast far too Technical and have far more Tools in my bag than he does he’s got a a decent job that lands quite well but he overreaches on his left hand a lot he’s getting older he’s not as he’s not as powerful he hasn’t got that same pop as he used to have his last three fights he’s been talking about oh you know he’s not felt power like mine it’s like that power doing the last three fights when oh yeah you went to decision twice and then lost by submission so clearly everyone’s been able to deal with that power and I this is the this is the the fall of Daniel Rodriguez when you when you lose the way you’re going to lose to me you don’t come back from that I’m gonna piece him up in every which way and make him hate that he was there do you feel like he’s overlooking it a little bit I don’t care if he’s overlooking me I don’t think about what he’s doing all I know is that I’m gonna absolutely smoke them and there’s nothing that he can do about it and do you feel like this fight is gonna steal the show like obviously we got a great great Main Event we’ve got two people can heavy weights that are in the main event it’s hard to take the smoke out of a heavy weight it takes one shot and the guy looks like he’s been shot like he’s dead um it’s hard to take that smoke like when Francis and ganu fights everybody’s talking about that one shot that he landed like it’s just like it’s ridiculous but I will do everything in my power to try and steal the show um and yeah I I believe that everyone will be talking about the fact that I have earned the top 15 ranking in the world and that’s what I’m excited for this is me earning and achieving such a big achievement in my life which is being ranked number 15 in the world I like that it’s 50 and I like that it’s the lowest one because it excites me because this 14 other guys 15 other girls ahead of me because they don’t count the champion as as number one they count him as the champ so yeah it’s exciting I have a whole road ahead of me to um to success into that world title so this is the start of the next Journey and you’ve never lacked any confidence like what would you say to the Ian Gary naysayers up to this point the same thing I’ve been saying every fight I’m just gonna prove me right I don’t care what anybody else says I don’t care what your opinion is whether you love me whether you hate me I couldn’t give a Fitters as long as I step in that octagon and I beat whoever stood across from me that is my only job that’s it and have you crossed paths with vrod this week yet no I haven’t seen him yet I’m excited to you think it’ll be cordial I don’t know that depends on what he wants to do if you want if he wants to talk if he wants to get into it you know a modern game I have no problem doing that if he wants to be respectful I’m always respectful I’m always respectful until somebody isn’t and then then it doesn’t change then you get What’s called the lip you get that Irish lip of what we just do not stop thanks really thank you bro appreciate you Hi Ian over here hey how are you good how are you awesome I’m just quite weak you get to get back in and have some fun I just yeah I love everything about these weeks what’s your favorite part of fight week probably the excitement inside of talking to us of course exactly well I like to talk a lot so that that is part of it um the excitement the anticipation the the build up I love that most people kind of shy away from it and crumble from it but I absolutely like I just I run for I run with it like I run on it it excites me it gets me hype for the fight most people think it’s stressful it’s a lot they kind of go oh I feel so tired I’m like I feel great this is awesome I get to sit and tell you guys how I’m gonna beat someone up then I get to go in and do it on Saturday night and go I told you I was right I did exactly what I said I was gonna do and you say that you know that drod was somebody you wanted you that was the fight you wanted why was he the name that you had in front of you because he was one of those guys that was on the cusp of being ranked and being had been ranked and I wanted an opponent to put me in that I believe that there’s three brackets in in every kind of UFC division there is the top 15 then there is the guys that are battling to be a contender you could either however many fighters in each division does that there’s that group and then there’s kind of newbies and guys who are falling off the end of their career so you’ve got the new guys coming in the guys who are coming out you’ve got the guys who are battling to get into that title that kind of top 15 and then you’ve got the top 15. and I believe that after my last my last opponent what the way I beat him and the style that I did it where I wanted someone that’s going to put me right on the cusp of that ranking or now officially being ranked because when I knock out number 15 you take number 15. so I’m excited and nobody in the world has ever been ranked off a loss except Daniel Rodriguez so the only reason he’s been given that rank is so that when I knock his ass out I’m Number 15 in the world and you said that you want to you know make him uh regret fighting you or you’re gonna make him pay or not make him pay make him regret he ever signed the contract I take it personally when someone signs a contract because you sat you’ve talked to your team you’ve thought about it you you’ve you’ve you’ve had a conversation with people about you can definitely be him like you can go in there and do that you can you can do like oh we yeah maybe and they decide to convince themselves of these things that he could do to beat me so the moment that someone signs the dotted line and agrees to fight me I’m like he thinks he can beat me he’s deluded now it’s my job to go in there and show them that he can to show him that when he signed that contract you up so that’s that’s the that’s the emotion that’s the feeling it’s to go in there and prove to him that he was wrong and that I was right what would be better than with that in mind a quick knockout highlight reel or a fight of the night three round beat him up the whole time and so in all honesty a late second late third round finish because if it’s a quick knockout to your point if it’s a quick knockout then you have oh well I just got caught where if it’s if I’m beating you for 14 minutes and I knock you out in the 14th minute it’s like what did you do for you the 14 minutes when I whooped your ass it’s like you I gave you a chance so that to your point that I don’t believe that Danny last longer than eight nine minutes I think I’m gonna get him out of there by the end of the second round um and I believe that is just based on cardio and speed I am just gonna have too much to offer and I’m gonna be too quick from and he’s gonna just he’s gonna get lost and and fumble in the speed he’s going to start to make errors overreach make wrong steps because he’s going to get desperate and when he gets desperate I’m going to take advantage of that would it be difficult for you to fight a friend or a teammate people keep asking me this I have I train at one of the biggest gyms in the world one of the super gems I’m friends with the current welterweight champion of the world so you’ve got Leon Gilbert shavka Vincent de lucay I would all consider close close friends and people have a good relationship with there is 9 10 11 other guys in the top 15. that I can I can fight to get the same effect the same elevate my game I don’t need to be finding a friend unless it’s absolutely critical for example Usman and Gilbert Burns I don’t need to fight someone who’s at the who’s in that top 15 unless for example right now I was the number one Contender and Leon had the belt and it’s all right give Leanna cargo here Leon they’ve offered me you what do you want to do do you want do we want to take the fire do you want to move it like that’s a conversation you’d have to have as friends as someone you have a relationship with not I’m not real not by just signing some and I would always take that approach but I’ve I’ve fought a friend of mine and Jack Grant from my world title and cage Warriors and we both agreed to it we both had the same conversation we both agreed to the tournament we both won and we then we said let’s go have some fun like May the best man win that’s it you want something that I want you have it I have it let’s go um so yeah of course it’d be tough to fight a friend but at the end of the day it’s not about the person it’s about the goal I want to be one of the best to ever do it and I’m willing to do whatever it takes what’s your opinion then on what marab and algerbane are doing where they’re refusing to fight each other I respect that again it’s it that that’s that’s that runs a lot deeper I think because they have a a smaller core team and those guys are so close so I believe marab and aljo are doing the right thing as friends like it’s I can understand it’s tough for marab because he wants to be the champion but if he keeps winning fights and he keeps doing what they’re what he’s doing and aljo keeps winning fights I believe they have to sit down and go dude we can make it we can make a rake of money here and guess what we punched him out off each other in the gym every single day to help Elevate each other let’s go in there and they might make a gentleman’s agreement let’s just go and have some phone neither of us are going to go too hard but let’s go in there and see who who wins the Spire type of vibe because at the end of the day it is still a sport and one guy has to be the champion and the other guy has to lose you have to One winner one loser and I suppose it’s a case of those two guys as friends don’t want that at all so unless it it comes absolutely critical to the division I think they should swerve each other until that point because it’s not necessary especially if you know each other’s friends families like everything like that it’s it can change people and if they really value each other’s relationship and friendship then why risk it thank you thank you so uh Eurovision is on the same time that you’re good fighting Ireland is one of the winningest countries in Eurovision what do you reckon the chats are yeah yeah I do for two on Saturday Every Time I Think of the year I think a dust in the turkey from Ireland when they put a turkey and oh my goodness if anyone doesn’t know who doesn’t the turkey is go look up Dustin turkey Eurovision and it was a mockery but it’s hilarious um yeah Ireland is one of the most winningest at um the Eurovision and I think that’s because there’s there’s a lot of culture that goes into our um our music and I believe that Irish people have a very special charm a very special or about us as a country as as people and I believe that that translates into the music it’s passionate so I feel like if we’re in if we’re in the competition we always have a chance thank you appreciate you guys the next time we talk I will officially be the 15th best fighter in my division