Vicente Luque joins Marc Raimondi ahead of his upcoming welterweight matchup vs. his former teammate Ian Machado Garry …

Mark Ray mondy for ESPN joined today by Vicente luk who has a huge welterweight fight coming up just in a few days UFC 296 against Ian Gary in Las Vegas V you’re going to Las Vegas on Sunday evening you just told me how has the camp been for this one and and this is a guy that you’re pretty familiar with in in Gary and in Machado Gary yeah yeah actually Monday night Monday night I’ll be flying there and yeah I’m excited it’s a big fight I mean yeah you know we’ve trained together know each other back from I think 2021 that’s when he just started in the UFC and and it’s it’s different is a little bit different you know fighting somebody that you’ve train with that you know you know closely but at the same time I think it’s another fight and I’m really excited me and him we have like super exciting Styles you know he’s a prospect everybody has the eyes on him so so for me it’s it’s definitely a big fight that I’m very excited to to go out there on the show he had that that win over Neil Magny back in August and at the time it seemed like you know there was a lot of other talk about what he could do next I think you know Wonder Boy was thrown out Stephen Thompson and and your name really wasn’t on that list of people that like he was talking about that the UFC was talking about for him so how did this fight actually come together so uh you know my manager called me and he offered the fight so I really I’m not sure if the UFC was in the fight if Ian wanted that I don’t really know how it came to happen but as soon as I got the news I was like yeah this this fight excites me I think it’s a big fight and I also like I’m other than Gilbert because we’re brothers I’m not gonna shy away from fighting anyone because for me it’s competition you know it’s never been personal but at the same time I needed to talked to the team so I talked to hen and and we kind of you know got to an agreement in his view well if you guys want to fight go out there and do what you guys got to do he stayed out of it so he’s not gonna he’s not gonna Corner either of us but at the same time he was like it’s your guys’ decision you know you’re the fighters and and for me it made sense you know it’s a big one two fight as well so so it made sense you know we’re going to go there and fight to see who’s going to move on who’s going to get close that title fight so no Henry in your corner next week so who will be your corner so I’ll have S uh deer and dilano Taylor okay no Gilbert Burns where’s where’s darinho Gilbert is gonna go there he’s gonna watch but you know I if if I want if I needed him to be there and I asked him I think he definitely would go you know I know that he would go but at the same time this being more of a striking match you know he’s a striker I’m a striker and I’ve been working a lot with these guys that are going to be in my corner I just felt like it made sense and also get cornered him in the last fight so I don’t want to put him on the spot at also you know I don’t want to have Gilbert you know call against Ian so just G Gilbert’s gonna be there watching and having fun okay fair enough that’s a good point I I forgot that that Gilbo was in Ian’s corner for Ian’s last fight which was a few months ago it’s uh it’s kind of crazy when when teammates end up fighting how does your preparation change if it does change at all knowing that you’re fighting a guy that you know that you’ve sparred with that you’ve trained with Etc yeah I mean uh I think it changes in the sense that I know him a little bit better you know I know some things that I can take from training that some things that he’s used to doing some things that he was working on or whatnot but at the same time it comes the other way around as you know he knows me much better he knows uh kind of he has the feel know each other’s power each other’s you know speed obviously fights is a fight it’s different you know I feel different a fight I’m sure the Ian feels different as well a fight is let’s say that’s when we’re doing it real so it’s kind of like we’re at our best shape and our best performance in the adrenaline everything just makes us you know Harper but I think it it it brings this different aspect you know the the sense that we know each other we know some things you know that maybe are things that we can use to our favor but at the same time uh I train as any other fight get ready for for the best Ian and the best Ian is the one that we haven’t seen yet you know uh so you know I I see everything that he does of good and I try to imagine where he’s going to try to develop you know where he’s going to try to maybe add to his game he’s grappling he wrestling and whatever so that I’m ready also for for any surprises this is kind of an interesting matchup because he’s certainly a guy that’s on the way up right and and I think the UFC values him he’s got some Charisma you know he has you know kind of the the Irish fan base behind him as well there’s been comparisons to Conor McGregor even and you know you’re a guy that’s that’s a lot more established you know you’ve been around you know you you’ve won big fights in the welterweight division how do you how do you view this fight as far as like career trajectory obviously if you get this win puts you in great shape right in the division and but on the other hand it’s like you’ve been there you’ve been you’ve fought all these guys already and he’s still just coming in so is it a step down in some ways for you I mean for you to get high reward need high risk and I see this fight as as that you know I think that yeah I could try to play it safe to say let’s find somebody that is ahead of that has more time you know more uh more developed career in the UFC and look for a safer way to move up and if I lose it’s not that bad but at the same time for me is like this kid is new is Young he is hungry he’s undefeated everybody has the eyes on him he is you know very talented i’ I’ve felt it in training I know how talented he is a win over a guy like that I think that really cements even more my career you know every knows what I can do everybody knows that that I’m always down to fight and to put on a good show but I want to show that hey put a a prospect a guy that everybody’s defeated kid and I can go out there and that as well and I think that just adds more more things to move me up and to really make everyone see that hey there’s no way this guy is gonna go to the title that only that’s the only way he’s going to stop is when he’s a champion and that’s that’s how I see this fight yeah there are some risks there are high rewards for me and I guess you know in the rankings you know you’re number nine I believe and he’s number 10 so it’s pretty close but again like as I as I mentioned know you you’re much more firmly established as a contender and you have been for quite some time but uh as as far as like um you know the training went and I think he was at kill Cliff for about two years right I know that these are kind of private things but like who gets the who gets the better of who in sparring when and him uh go at it man uh it’s hard for me to judge because I don’t look at sparring kind of trying to beat my my whoever I’m training you know so I would say it was pretty like in the standup I would say he’s the skilled guy he definitely told me a lot of things that I hadn’t seen in the past and that’s what I love of training you know is is is just one guy de other so I will say strike is somewhere where I know that’s his strongest weapon it is my strongest weapon as well so it’s something that I’ve that I could take from and I would say that grappling I would be the better Grappler I would be the better wrestler uh wrestling is we both defensive you know we want to keep the fight standing now I I started doing a little bit more offensive so I would say I’m a little bit and grappling I think I have more years of experience I I I take that but you know as I training is training you know with some guys go to compete some guys just to develop their technique some other guys go just you know maybe they’re not a good day so I try not to really get myself attached to that so that I’m not surprised when I get to the that makes sense I I interviewed your teammate Brendan Allen not too long ago I think last week and the topic of of your fight against Ian Gary came up and it seems like him maybe some of your other teammates are not real happy about how some of this has gone down some of the stuff that maybe he has said some of the stuff that he’s commented on posts how do you feel about this uh this was a guy that you were in the room with and you bonded with as a teammate yeah man you know uh it’s hard it’s it’s a hard situation uh Ian is a guy that you know he he obviously talks like in a say even good things you know he he’s a he’s verbal very verbal and sometimes that can be true know sometimes he’s talking bad about people and whatnot so in a way I’m ready for everything you know if want to take it you know to try to promote his fight by trash talking well that’s what he’s gonna do I’m still gonna be me but yeah he did c a post of mine my Baptist post and for me it was a really important uh post I I did that because I appreciate that moment and he kind of you know uh played it with it he he was going to be God something like that I felt it’s disrespect I did feel disrespected by comment at the same time I choose to forgive I choose to you know hey that’s unfortunate you want to take it that way you do what you got to do I’m gonna be respectful I’m still gonna have respect for him because I know that he puts on the work I know that you know uh he he he tries to provide to his family so I respect that on him you know but as a team as when I come and see the team I I’ve been here for so many years and I’ve always worked you know with all these guys uh trying to help them as much as they help me you know because it’s it’s this is what’s beautiful about this team here at kill Club everybody helps each other no matter regardless of level you’re at and what I feel is everybody has my back at this moment because I’m the guy that that is living here that is training here fulltime if I have a fight or if I don’t have a fight I’m training I’m here giving my body uh to them and as they give it to me and when it comes to this moment like Ian was the one that chose not to to be on on the team at this moment he chose to train elsewhere I’m the guy training so I feel like everybody the teammates you know have my back in that sense and I think that’s you know because I got all the work I needed you know everybody was here helping me uh giving their body giving their you know their inputs uh watching fights and stuff so I think that that’s amazing and I I think it’s just part of the the family environment in the team would you consider him a friend or maybe he he was a friend at some point I don’t know it’s hard friends are hard to to to say you know it’s like I tell you Gilbert Burns is my friend and you know it’s it’s my friend is brother that’s a different level uh when we see the other guys you know other guys that are are there even like kamaru kamaru is a good friend for many many years and we’ve talked about if you know in in in some moment fighting each other but be only for a title and and then I think that after you know after a couple of levels down would be what I have with Ian and which is like a great relationship you know I wouldn’t call him a friend I’ve never hanged out his house hanged out at my house but we always have a good relationship in training you know we talk about out for lunch or whatnot so it’s great guy you know a great guy that I I feel that we’re great teammates we we always were really good teammates help helping each other giving each other pointers on on each other and and having a goodship we just never you know had a had anything more than that we didn’t go to the next level like hang out outside of the training I’m sure you’ve seen you know on social media the last few weeks he’s he’s getting piled on a a little bit him you know the situation with you know his uh his wife Lila and it’s uh I feel like the whole thing has gotten blown out of proportion you know a little bit and I don’t even I I’ve kind of lost like did he do something wrong I I don’t feel like he’s done anything wrong yes he does talk a little bit of trash as you noted you know that comment but I mean do you feel like this is whole this whole thing is like getting blown like blown up and and maybe it’s there’s too much being made of this situation what I feel like the first thing is I don’t think anybody should be messing with anybody’s family I I know that like I love my family I love my wife I love my son and what we have is it’s ours you know and you know I I cannot be here in a position where I’m GNA judge anybody and with that said I understand that negativity brings negativity so that’s what what I you know people everything out of proportion you know everything that is that is bad you know that you can get bad oh I’m gonna say something bad about this guy and then everybody that maybe hates something jumps on that and then start making that that become something kind of look like what happened with neom magany when when Ian talked about it you know and and everybody kind of started looking at that like in a terrible way so I don’t know um that’s why I try to stay out of that and not not because I’m afraid of whatever they’re going to say about me I’m not afraid of anything in that sense it’s just like I don’t want to promote that I don’t want to be the guy saying bad things about the others because I try to see the best in people so you know that’s that’s why I think I have such a good relationship with with everyone I meet everyone I I deal with is because I always try to see the the good side of people I don’t look at the bad side did did you feel like when you guys were training together that he was you know he was a nice guy that you know him and his family were were good people yeah yeah I mean I always had a great energy from him you know always good talks positive you know especially I’m Brazilian and he loves Brazil you know his wife is Brazilian so they have like this very good relationship with the country with Brazil so always talked about that that he wanted to go visit finally he did go there and and train there and everything but yeah I mean I I always always felt like he’s a great guy he’s a cool guy cool guy to hang around great training partner and and you know the best we’re going to fight each other in there is like I always said in there I’m doing business it’s it’s it’s me or the other guy but outside of that I always will wish him the best this feels like uh a little bit more of a complicated situation than you would probably like going to a fight right is that is that fair to say you’re you’re a very laid-back guy you’re focused on the fights you don’t talk a lot of crap you know you’re you’re on the straight and narrow and there’s all these other things things in this fight that are coming at you uncomfortable a little bit for you I think in the past it would uh in the past it would be uncomfortable because that is not how I am and but I also was kind of like maybe not not able to to really talk about this these situations so much but now what I see is it’s an opportunity for me to show another side so okay everybody’s talking about like uh trash and all this and that I could just go out there and say hey we don’t need to to promote fights like this I’m a beast I I have such a history in the UFC Ian is a beast you know he’s a young kid that that has had amazing fights that has you know a support of a whole country Ireland and all this makes this fight so amazing and and we are so skilled I know how good the fight is going to be I know know how MMA fans should excited for what’s going to happen inside that octagon and then I can show other people hey need to focus on all that drama outside because at the end of the night we’re gonna go in there and we’re gonna fight each other and that’s gonna be the best the show you know regardless we can we can talk everything you know the best part is going gonna be the fight get McGregor and khabib uh there was a lot of of animosity and buildup the best F part was the you know so that’s that’s that’s what I see nowadays like it’s an opportunity for me to show who I am awesome sente thank you so much I’ll see you in a few days in Las Vegas and uh you know wish you the best with everything thank you man appreciate it I’m excited thank you all the fans let’s go appreciate it man thank you so much