Ian Machado Garry reacts to Colby Covington’s challenge: ‘I’m going to be the final chapter in your legacy of failure’
Ian Machado Garry has a new stipulation for Colby Covington.
After landing on the receiving end of a crass callout this past week by Covington, Garry responded with a callout of his own, challenging Covington to an all-or-nothing retirement match in an Instagram response on Sunday. Garry attacked Covington for his failures in three consecutive UFC title shots and criticized the American’s résumé, which lacks a victory over a single fighter currently ranked in the UFC’s welterweight top 15. Garry then challenged Covington to a WWE-style “I quit” match, where the loser will be forced to retire.
Garry’s response can be seen below.
“Listen here, Colby ‘Chaos’ Covington, you are in no position to tell me what I should be doing in life,” Garry said. “You’ll do as you’re told. You gave me three stipulations, all of which had nothing to do about fighting and were all talking about my wife. I don’t know how you were raised, but women aren’t property and my wife definitely ain’t no trophy. You should be focusing on me. I am the one who’s in that octagon with you. I’m the one who’s going to punch a hole in your head. So stop swerving me and keep Layla’s name out your mouth. You’re not America’s favorite fighter. What you are is a peak underperformer.
“You’re the only person in UFC history to lose three world title fights, and you haven’t got a single win against anybody in the top 15 right now. So Colby, why should I fight you? I can think of one reason. I challenge you to an ‘I quit’ match, where one of us has to say, ‘I quit,’ and whoever says the words ‘I quit’ has to retire — gloves off, center of the octagon, sayonara, my friend. I’m going to be the final chapter in your legacy of failure. I’m going to rid the UFC of Colby Covington for good, and I’m going to make MMA great again.”
Garry (14-0) is currently MMA Fighting’s No. 8 ranked welterweight in the world. The undefeated Irishman has won all seven of his UFC appearances, a run capped off by recent victories over Daniel Rodriguez, Neil Magny, and Geoff Neal.
Covington (17-4) is unranked on MMA Fighting’s welterweight rankings but remains one of the more renown names in the UFC’s division. The 36-year-old American has won just two of five contests since December 2019, sandwiching wins over the now-retired Tyron Woodley and Jorge Masvidal between title losses to Kamaru Usman and Leon Edwards.