Ian Machado Garry fights former teammate Vicente Luque at UFC 296, and if he’s not careful, he could have another of his old Kill Cliff FC pals coming after him.
Brendan Allen and Machado Garry were previously sparring partners at the Florida gym, but the Irishman’s recent departure from the team was apparently an acrimonious one. Two weeks after his main event win over Paul Craig at UFC Vegas 82, Allen spoke to ESPN and shared his thoughts on how Machado Garry has conducted himself since leaving Kill Cliff FC.
“I think it’s a really [expletive] move to leave the gym, and then literally ask for – or somehow it comes up – that you’re going to fight a guy you had trained with,” Allen said. “Vicente’s one of the nicest guys ever. He don’t talk about nobody – he barely even talks in the gym. You have to ask him questions to get him to talk. I don’t know, I just think Ian’s a little [expletive].”
Luque represents the toughest test yet for the undefeated Machado Garry, who is 6-0 since debuting with the UFC in late 2021. Luque is currently No. 10 in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings, one spot ahead of his UFC 296 opponent.
There’s no questioning that the 26-year-old Machado Garry has lived up to the hype, but Allen isn’t a fan of the persona that Machado Garry has taken on as he’s built his name up in the welterweight division.
“That’s just my personal feelings,” Allen said. “I’m not going to speak for anyone else in the gym. I think he’s whack. I think he’s young. I think he’s misled. I think he talks way too much, but I understand he’s trying to be like Conor [McGregor], but there’s only one Conor, sorry. There’s one Conor. He or no one right now in the realm is going to top Conor, so I don’t know, I guess I just come from a different way of life. It’s kind of against my morals, I guess you could say, or what I feel is right and wrong, he just talks too much.
“Every man’s got to find their own path, and I guess he’ll find his one way or another, whether it’s good or bad. I feel like he was at a turning point where he could go down one road and still be a good person and not let things transfer over. But now I think he’s going down the other way where he’s like a Colby Covington-type of thing. It kind of sucks, because he was a nice guy.
“But I feel like it’s one thing to play a persona like Colby does – behind closed doors they say he’s a really nice guy, really quiet. I don’t know, I’ve never met him – but I’ve met Ian. I know Ian. And I feel like you can put this persona on, but actions speak louder than words, and this is also one of those actions to where it speaks louder than words.”
Kill Cliff FC isn’t the first gym that Machado Garry has left under controversial circumstances. In an interview with The Independent, Machado Garry said that he was previously kicked out of Team Renegade, where he trained with welterweight champion Leon Edwards, because of what he perceived to be Edwards’ “insecurities.” The gym responded shortly after, writing in a statement that Machado Garry’s “more nomadic approach to preparation has given him great results, but it’s not in line with what we are creating at Team Renegade. This has nothing to do with one specific fighter, or a specific coach.”
Allen concurred that Machado Garry has an attitude that bothered some, and if he’s not more careful about what he says, he has receipts ready to humble the fast-rising contender.
“Just know there’s video – and he knows what name not to say to let it come out – of what happened to him,” Allen said. “I’m not gonna release it, but just know there is someone in that gym that has slept him. Out.
“So for him to come in and say everyone knows how good he is striking and how good he is here and this and that and this and that, yeah, everyone has their days. Hell, he’s probably got the better of me a couple sparring sessions, but there’s many sparring sessions where I did what I did too. I don’t know, I think it’s just a lot of talk and it’s hard to take gym to fighting because it’s totally different. It really rubs me the wrong way how much he talks, but more so what he says about things like that.”
Though Allen and Machado Garry likely won’t be training together anytime soon, Allen still has an invitation for him if he wants to squash their beef in the future. Allen currently competes at 185 pounds, while Machado Garry competes at 170, but it doesn’t sound like Allen is talking about a sanctioned fight.
“I’m that kind of guy, if you start talking too much, then we can just fight,” Allen said. “We can really fight. We can take the gloves, we can put the gloves [away], I don’t care, we can do that. I don’t know, it’s hard for me to even put in words how stupid I think he is for doing those things, but again, it’s exactly the same scenario selling your soul to the devil for money. That’s what he’s doing.”