Ian Machado Garry is just days away from his return at UFC 303 and he’s still not all that intrigued by his upcoming fight against Michael “Venom” Page.
After campaigning for weeks to land a fight against three-time UFC title challenger Colby Covington on June 29, the matchup never actually came together. Instead, Garry was offered a showdown against Page, the longtime Bellator standout who won his UFC debut against Kevin Holland this past March.
While Page has plenty of credentials outside of the UFC, Garry hoped he would get a higher ranked opponent that would put him on the cusp of title contention.
“I’m still not interested in it,” Garry said about the fight with Page on The MMA Hour. “I have no interest in it. I’ve told you. Here’s the way I look at it: I’m undefeated, I’ve beaten everybody put in front of me in the best way I believe I can and I go out there and I get my hand raised any way, shape and form possible. That is my job. When I do that, I fight up because my goal is to be the world champion.
“I’m looking at the guys above me. There’s six or seven guys ahead of me. There’s Gilbert [Burns], there’s Shavkat [Rakhmonov], there’s Jack Della Maddalena, there’s Colby [Covington], there’s [Kamaru] Usman, Belal [Muhammad] and Leon [Edwards]. All I’ve done in my career is win. I deserve to fight one of those guys. I have to fight one of those guys because that is my projection. I’m on a projection to be one of the world champions. I’m on a projection to be one of the biggest stars the sport’s ever seen. I have no interest in fighting below me. I’ve already fought [No.] 15 in the world, 10 in the world, 8 in the world, why on Earth would I want to fight No. 13? I still have no interest in fighting Michael. I have no interest in fighting him.”
Admitting his lack of excitement over the upcoming fight might seem like Garry is setting himself up for disaster because Page has more overall experience and he’s earned his reputation as a lethal striker.
As much as he may not be hyping up his UFC 303 opponent, Garry promises he’s left nothing to chance in his preparation and he plans to execute his game plan come Saturday night.
“When I say it to you, I kind of want to realign my focus and everything like that,” Garry explained. “The shift of energies for me and the shift of focus is when I get that belt wrapped around my waist, I’m going to be fighting whoever the people believe is the next best guy worthy of that title shot. Whether he’s [ranked No.] 1, whether he’s 2, whether he’s 6, whether he’s 9 in the world and I want to put on them shows.
“So this is the first time I’m stepping into an octagon with that championship mentality of ‘I am better than you, I am going to prove it’ and that is all my job is, is to go out there and prove that there’s a reason you’re ranked below me. There’s a reason I’m ranked higher than you and now it’s to go out there and completely outclass ‘MVP’ in any way, shape and form necessary to get my hand raised.”
Garry’s assessment about Page isn’t all that different from many of the fighters who called him out when he was still competing in Bellator. The narrative built around the British born-striker is that he was protected from facing more elite competition and allowed to pad his record with highlight-reel victories over opponents who probably shouldn’t have been in the cage with him.
When it came time for Page to face stiffer opponents, he suffered a brutal knockout to Douglas Lima in 2019 (later avenging that loss via a narrow decision in 2021), fell in a lackluster decision loss to Logan Storley and then won on the scorecareds in other fights including his UFC debut against Holland.
“MVP was used and utilized in a very smart way by Bellator,” Garry said. “We understand this kid’s talented. We understand this kid can talk and he can sell fights. They gave him a very easy run of opponents to go out there and build his brand and build his promotion, He was knocking out people he should have knocked out. He was beating people he should have beaten.
“But when you look at him against Paul Daley, when you look at him against former Cage Warriors champion Ross Houston, when you look at him against Logan Storley, a three-time NCAA champion, when you look at him twice against Douglas Lima and Kevin Holland, sure he’s looked great because he’s a great fighter and he has a great specific talent, which is that point-kickboxing karate style that’s awkward and irritating. But he’s not been able to finish these guys or dominate them in the way that he should.”
Garry promises that he’s going to give Page a rude awakening come Saturday night, reminding him there are levels to this game and he’s no longer facing bums just waiting to get knocked out.
“Now he’s here,” Garry said about Page. “Now he’s fighting someone 11 years younger than him. Someone who’s far more talented in every facet of the game than he ever wished he could be. It’s my job to go out there and show there’s a reason I’m this highly ranked. There’s a reason why everyone talks about me from before my Cage Warriors debut. There’s a reason why people in MMA knew who I was. It’s because of the talent and the hard work that I have.
“Saturday night, June 29, I’m going to go out there and prove to the world against the biggest opponent that I’ve fought, the biggest name that I’ve fought on the biggest card I’ve ever fought on.”
