Ian Machado Garry explains post-fight fan interaction at UFC 285
A fan almost found out the hard way why its not the best idea to try and fight a UFC fighter on the streets.
Ian Machado Garry was going to add another name to his résumé after UFC 285 this past Saturday.
Shortly after his third-round TKO of Song Kenan, the ‘Future’ encountered a fan who was ‘shouting and screaming’ near him and his team at the T-Mobile Arena. A video showed some words were exchanged, and Machado Garry prepared himself for a fight.
“This f—king loser,” said Machado Garry on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani. “I’m stood there with my whole team. I’m stood there with about eight, nine people and [UFC fan] Grandma Khabib came up to me and was like, ‘Hey, Ian! Can I have a photo?’ And I was like, ‘Of course you can!’ So we start talking and chatting…and while I’m chatting with her, I just hear this guy shouting and screaming, coming through where all the cars were. And he’s like, ‘Bro, that’s the easiest f—king [$50,000] I’ve ever made in my life! I’m f—king awesome!’ He’s just screaming and shouting, and I don’t know if he’s off his face or what he’s doing, but then he just bumped into me. And I just turned around to him and went, ‘Hey, relax.’ And he goes, ‘Or what?’ And I just laugh. I just start laughing and I look at him like, ‘Sorry?’
Fan tries to fight Ian Garry outside UFC 285 #UFC285 pic.twitter.com/glc6TcM1kK
— betr ⚡️Combat (@betrcombat) March 5, 2023
“And he’s like, ‘Or what? I’m a fighter! I do this s—t!’ And I said, ‘Oh really? Really? You do this s—t?,’” continued Machado Garry. “He’s like, ‘Yeah, you don’t want any of this smoke!’ And then his fat little mate stood there in his f—king pink blazer going, ‘Yeah, you don’t want any of this!’ And I’m like, Ha!’.”
As the fan continued to accost Machado Garry, the UFC welterweight started to remove items on his person because he was planning to ‘drop’ the self-appointed fighter. That was until his wife, Layla, reminded him of the consequences he would face if he followed through with that plan.
Though the video ended without showing the conclusion of their encounter, Machado Garry said nothing happened with the fan.
“I’ve never been in a fight outside of the Octagon because I’m too smart,” said Machado Garry. “But it took everything in me, with the way he was eyeballing me, not to go at him. It was like he wanted to kill me with the way he looked at me, and I was like, I’m going to put you unconscious if you take one step forward. One step forward or say one more word, I’m going to end you. But I had to keep my cool because I’m a professional athlete. It would be a bad rap for the sport and everything. So it’s like, just stand there, look him in the eyes, if he wants to d—k measure with me, fine. At the end of the day, there’s no way he’s going to win, so leave him be. I’m sure he went off and had a great night.”
Since he suffered little to no damage against Kenan, the Irishman is targeting a return to the Octagon at UFC 287, the upcoming pay-per-view event scheduled for April 8 at the Miami-Dade Arena.
About the author: Kristen King is a writer for Bloody Elbow. She has covered combat sports since 2016. (full bio)