“Nowhere near the Striker I Am!” Ian Garry Credits Jack Della Maddalena Title Win, but Unloads on Coaches’ ‘Speed’ Hunch

Ian Garry gives credit to Jack Della Maddalena for snagging UFC title gold but sees holes in speed and standup game.

“Nowhere near the Striker I Am!” Ian Garry Credits Jack Della Maddalena Title Win, but Unloads on Coaches’ ‘Speed’ Hunch

Ian Garry rubbishes Team Jack Della Maddalena assessing him as low speed striker (Source: IMAGO/X)

Top welterweight Ian Machado Garry was all praises for what new champ Jack Della Maddalena was able to achieve at UFC 315. After all, the Irishman predicted that JDM would lose the bout when he gave the predictions before. However, that is where the buck stops with the admiration. As it is, Garry has dreams of capturing the UFC gold. To that end, he isn’t willing to give enough room to consider someone else the better striker.

Ian Garry recently went into an all-out war vs. boogeyman Shavkat Rakhmonov and made him a less scary version on the optics. The Irishman also went to a gritty war and won against the previously unstoppable Carlos Prates, despite a late scare. Then he made championship weight as PPV backup title fighter for UFC 315 and was present ringside. After May 10 in Montreal, Garry’s idea about the seat view and how he now sees the challenge has changed.

I thought both of them looked slow from watching it with my own eyes. Then, I watched it back on TV and it was a completely different look… [Jack] He looked a lot faster when you just watched him vs. Belal. There was a lot of things Jack did that I thought were quite sloppy. But technically he was the better striker…In his last four fights, Jack has had one finish; So he’s telling me I need to get into the gym and I need to find some power. He got beat up pretty bad. … Belal ain’t nowhere near the striker I am.

With his UD win logged over Prates and a quick turnaround as a backup fighter has landed the Irishman in good graces of the UFC brass. With former lightweight king Islam Makhachev now joining his division, and Rakhmonov still awaiting 170-pound top seed treatment, things are shaken up. However, Garry sees a PPV title scrapper versus Jack Della Maddalena in the near future.

There’s no telling when that will be or when Ian Garrry finds his next booking. Della Maddalena’s head coach, Ben Vickers, however, is not fond of the Irishman goading such a scenario. He told host Denis Shkuratov for the ‘Submission Radio’ Show just as much.

The head coach also presented Garry should tout a warrior mentality, unlike trying to be an MMA celebrity. Vickers felt that the Prates fight proved the Irishman doesn’t respond well to standup pressure. However, Garry has his own thoughts on it.

Ian Garry takes umbrage with Jack Della Maddalena’s coach

Ben Vickers is of the opinion that when push comes to shove, Ian Garry won’t be in the long haul for an exciting PPV title scrapper. Peeling off immense striking pressure, all he could do was teep off and answer with push kicks, per the coach.

Ian Garry dumbs down Jack Della Maddalena's coach butting in after UFC 315
Ian Garry dumbs down Jack Della Maddalena’s coach butting in after UFC 315 (Source: X)

Vickers is also not fond of the fighter providing M&Ms to Jack Della Maddalena during Ceremonial weigh-ins at UFC 315 PPV. JDM himself hit back with crass comments about Machado Garry’s family at the UFC 315 pre-fight presser. While the Irishman has issues with the fighter being sensitive to pre-fight playfulness and banter, he takes up even more issues with the coach butting in with critique on him:

His coach should stay out of this. My son giving him M&Ms is a playful, harmful joke, having a laugh about him missing weight. It was all good…There’s a playful joke about a child giving a fighter M&Ms with the baseline comedy of, ‘Take these, eat these, miss weight and my daddy will step in and win a world title.’ …That’s just a laugh. It’s low-level…Then to go out there and say the comments that he said was just immature.

Garry and wife Layla Anna-Lee have been in a pool of trouble since last year for her satire piece and (allegedly) living with her ex-husband – Garry’s MMA nutritionist. The duo has often found themselves in unwarranted public scrutiny. Hence, the fighter isn’t willing to be what he despises and butt in with attack on a family. Ian Garry promised he won’t need to as he’d punch the ‘mouth off ‘ the champ and take his belt anyway.

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