Before a reporter could even get the question out, Ian Machado Garry shut down the idea that Colby Covington would escape his clutches.
Garry put Covington front and center following his win over Geoff Neal at UFC 298, and he wasn’t thrilled to entertain other potential opponents.
“He doesn’t have a choice,” Garry said at the post-fight press conference for UFC 298. “He’s lost three title fights. He doesn’t have a choice. Sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt, but there is no other f****** option for him. Who else are they gonna put? He’s not going to sign the fight grapplers, that’s for sure. He’s not gonna fight [Stephen] ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson. Do you know what I mean? What’s the point of putting them two together?
“He’s going to do what he’s f****** told, and he’s going to fight a young upcoming prospect, so I can f****** take him out of the division, wipe him off the top 15, and the UFC can go, ‘Great. Right. That’s been great. Let’s take that and run with it.’”
As the reporter correctly noted, Covington’s reputation raises the question of alternate opponents. The former interim champ’s schedule has been hollowed out by several bookings that have failed to materialize. After losing his third title shot in UFC 296 meeting with current champ Leon Edwards, Covington seemed to acknowledge a need to rebuild his career and chose Thompson as his next target.
Covington is also coming off a loss and is 2-3 in his past five fights, losing twice to now ex-champ Kamaru Usman and current champ Edwards. From a purely competitive perspective, Garry seems to match better with other up-and-coming fighters such as Sean Brady, Jack Della Maddalena and Shavkhat Rakhmonov.
Asked about that trio of fast-rising contenders, Garry didn’t shy away.
“I am a fighter who says yes,” he said. “I don’t say no. I don’t be picky. I say yes, where, when? That’s it. The truth is, I call out who I want. Colby is the biggest name in the division without a title – going out and beating him does so much.”
That assessment gets to the heart of Covington’s appeal for Garry. Not only is the brash welterweight a rival for the personal attacks he’s lobbed at the Irish fighter and his family, but he also carries a certain marquee appeal that could help Garry build toward a title shot.
That’s likely why Covington was a part of Garry’s avowed hit list, which also included now-former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland, who also disparaged his family on several occasions.
“I might be talking s*** about him – there’s a lot of respect on his name from all the MMA community,” Garry said of Covington. “Do you know what I mean? He wrestles hard, he puts up output in fights, but he’s just not 1/10 of the fighter I am. And it’s my job to go out there and prove that, and I would do that with a smile on my face.
“I don’t believe he’s in a position to be picking and choosing his fights. If he wants to fight, he’s going to do what he’s told, and I’m sure [UFC execs] Hunter [Campbell] and Dana [White] will tell him that.”
