If you think Ian Machado Garry didn’t beat Michael “Venom” Page, he thinks you’re wrong.
At UFC 303, Garry picked up the eighth win of his UFC career, taking a unanimous decision victory over Page on the opening main card fight. It was a competitive fight that Garry nearly won in the first round when he secured a takedown and back control, and almost finished a rear-naked choke before Page ultimately defended.
Looking back on it, “The Future” isn’t pleased with his performance.
“Livid. Absolutely livid,” Garry said on The MMA Hour. “It should have been done in the first round. There should have never been a second, there should have never been a third. It should have been, ‘Ian Machado Garry takes his back and subs him unconscious.’ That’s what it should have been. I’ve already lost sleep over that and I just have this burning sensation in my brain that is just — it’s the competitor in me. It’s the perfectionist in me that goes, that’s where the fight should have been done and dusted.”
Instead, Page was able to survive the submission attempt and the rest of the fight was hotly contested. From that point on, Page won most of the striking exchanges and even wound up on top for some time in the third round after Garry pulled guard. Later in that round, though, Garry was able to once again secure a takedown and move to back control, which was enough to win the round and the fight, at least according to the judges.
Some fans disagreed with the judges’ decision, arguing the bout should be a draw with Page winning the final two rounds and Garry taking a 10-8 in the first. UFC CEO Dana White was among the chorus who scored a draw. But Garry wholeheartedly disagrees.
“You’re full of shit. You need to go back and watch the fight,” Garry said in response. “First round was mine. Here’s the thing: There is more of a case to say I won all three rounds than than there is to say it was a draw. That’s the way I look at it. First round, dominated. No one in the world is arguing that. Third round, it’s pretty obvious I won. I ended up on bottom somehow, it was a weird exchange from punches, ended up on bottom, I used elbows from the bottom, in tight, dirty. I had the damage when I was off my back. Then I ended up taking him down, getting his back, and dusting him up a little bit. It wasn’t a massive amount of damage, but there was absolutely nothing from ‘MVP.’
“So the first and third were clearly mine. Then the second round is the one that you can debate. I would lean and give it to MVP as a competitor. As someone who was in the fight, I felt like I could have won the second, but even I was leaning towards MVP in that second round because the way he finished the round strong. He had three good combinations that were the most damage of the round, so I can understand how you would give him the second. But there is absolutely no basis to sit here and say it was a f*cking draw. There is more of an argument to say I won all three rounds.”
To strengthen his argument, Garry also noted that Page himself seemed to agree, clapping along as the decision was read in the cage.
“29-28 unanimous decision,” Garry said. “I think it was pretty obvious I won the first and the third. ... So, for me, I was confident I was getting my hand raised at the end of the fight. I knew I won the fight. Me and MVP both knew I won the fight. He was clapping before my hand had been raised because he knew. The two of us together, we both know who won the dance, who led the dance, and I was in control, I was in charge, and it was pretty obvious to both of us that I won. 29-28 was the right score in my mind.”
The win moved Garry to 15-0 in his professional career.
