“Zero fans flew out for Ian” – Polarising fighter Ian Garry’s apology to fans for UFC 296 withdrawal sparks ‘brutal’ reactions

Ian Garry was to face Vicente Luque at UFC 296 last week. However, he pulled out of the fight with just a few days to go. He got ill and contracted pneumonia leading to the cancellation of the fight. As such, Dana White took to Instagram to announce the news. However, fans believed there was more to it as Garry had faced a lot of backlash on the internet for numerous controversies. Now, ‘The Future’ broke his silence and released a statement on his withdrawal from the fight.

Recently, Ian Garry posted pictures of him being sick on Instagram and released a statement on the captions. He said he fell sick with influenza and later developed pneumonia as he went through the process of weight-cutting. So, the UFC doctors responsibly pulled him out of his fight. As such, he felt disappointed and furious at not being able to show up for his fans.

Influenza developed into pneumonia as I dropped weight and for the first time in my career I was pulled by the UFC Doctor. Flying home I met so many fans who flew out specifically to see me. F**k. This is not how I wanted to meet you. I wanted to put on a show more than anything. Thank you for all your kind words, wonderful messages and to everyone who was there for me.

Ian Garry (via Instagram)

Further, Ian Garry wrote about the hateful comments he received and claimed they weren’t real. He referred to the instance of fans speculating reasons for his withdrawal. Recently, ‘The Future’ found himself amidst numerous controversies. So, the MMA world was reluctant to believe the truth that Garry was sick. As such, he put an end to the speculations with his Instagram post.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ‘The Future’ Ian Machado Garry (@iangarry)

Now, After Garry’s fight with Vicente Luque at UFC 296 fell off, the UFC booked him against Geoff Neal for UFC 298. They fight in February 2024 and ‘The Future’ hoped to make up for his recent fight cancellation. As such, he would be coming off a dominant win over Neil Magny while Neal would be coming off a loss to Shavkat Rakhmonov.

Fans react to Ian Garry’s statement

Ian Garry took to Instagram to announce the reason for the cancellation of his fight at UFC 296. Earlier, ‘The Future’ was trashed by the MMA world for the controversies surrounding his relationship with his wife, his exclusion from team Renegade, and more.

As such, his withdrawal from his fight only agitated the fans and they rumored reasons for the same. As such, Garry cleared all the speculations through his recent Instagram post.

Although the reason for his pulling out was valid, fight fans took some time to believe it as they were invested in Garry’s other controversies. As such, here are some interesting reactions from the fans:

Fight fans were unmerciful towards Garry and trolled him for his statement. In particular, they went after Ian Garry mentioning meeting fans who flew out to Las Vegas to see him. Anyway, ‘The Future’ promised to make it better by February 2024 as he faces Geoff Neil in a rescheduled bout.

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