Ian Machado Garry continued his winning ways at UFC 298, although the scorecards were probably a little too close to comfort for his liking.
Displaying a slick striking arsenal over all three rounds and doing everything to avoid Geoff Neal’s tremendous power, Garry ultimately earned a split decision after three rounds. Two judges scored the fight 30-27 for Garry with the third judge giving Neal the fight with a 29-28 score.
That was still enough for Garry to win but he heard a loud chorus of boos from the Anaheim crowd after he was announced as the victor.
“Let them talk,” Garry said in response to the crowd. “I’m winning, undefeated, living the life. Keep talking. You’re all here, you’re watching me. Here’s the thing, Geoff Neal hits hard and you’ve got to give respect to that guy. That guy’s a warrior. Today, I knew I might have to take 15 minutes to jab away at him because he’s very dangerous.”
Dancing on the outside, Garry sought to use his height and reach to an advantage but staying on his backfoot to make Neal chase him around the cage. Neal kept looking for a way to get inside and he finally got there with just under two minutes remaining in the opening round as he rocketed forward with a huge left hand before moving into the clinch against the cage.
Garry eventually fought his way free and he countered with a slick knee up the middle followed by a punch behind it. From there, Garry began launching more and more kicks, going up high and then back down to the body as he chopped away at Neal from all angles.
As time passed, Garry started settling into a rhythm and it appeared that Neal was getting frustrated that he just couldn’t find a home for his punches. Neal eventually managed to stick a jab in Garry’s face that caused some bleeding from his mouth and he followed with a flurry that saw a couple of good shots find a home on the chin.
With a close fight through two rounds. Garry and Neal both got more active in the striking exchanges. Garry continued throwing a variety of kicks and even though Neal was blocking well, the output was still there for the Irishman. Garry also kept circling away and Neal just couldn’t find a way to cut off the cage to slow him down.
Garry also mixed in some great knees up the middle whenever Neal got a little too aggressive and that backed off the power puncher for the final couple of minutes in the fight. When it was over, Garry clearly thought he did enough to get the win and two of the judges agreed with him as he moved to 14-0 in his career and 7-0 in the UFC.
Following the win, Garry wasted no time calling for the same fight he’s wanted for the past few months with hopes that he can silence one of the people who have spewed some of the nastiest comments about him and his family.
“There’s one guy I want next. His name is Colby ‘Chaos’ Covington,” Garry shouted. “I want to retire you from the UFC. You ain’t ready to deal with speed. I’m going to take you out. I’m going to make you regret everything you’ve ever said.”
