Ian Machado Garry is one of the top young prospects in the UFC’s welterweight division and he took another major step forward on his rise up the rankings on Saturday night.
In a masterful performance, Garry crushed veteran Neil Magny on the strength of a relentless barrage of leg kicks. From the first kick Garry landed, Magny was favoring his left leg and limping around the Octagon.
Garry continued walking Magny down, dropping him repeatedly. There wasn’t a single moment during the fight where Magny appeared to have Garry in peril.
If there is any downside of Garry’s performance, it’s that he failed to finish an opponent he not only dominated, but taunted throughout.
Take a look at this exchange after the second round captured by ESPN MMA.
The judges scored the fight 30-26×2 and 30-24. Magny was a late replacement for the injured Geoff Neal, and because of the one-sided nature of the bout, one has to wonder if the latter could have been more competitive with Garry.
Coming into the fight, Garry was ranked No. 13 and Magny was No. 11. At the very least, the two will flip flop. It’s not crazy to think Garry could rise into the Top 10 after his performance.
After the bout, Garry called out Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, which is a sensible next fight for the undefeated 25-year-old. The two fighters are at opposite sides of their careers, but have similar stand-up styles.
It seemingly has all the looks of a main event on a future Fight Night event in the early part of 2024, or perhaps in December.
Magny looked about as bad as he has in any fight over the past 5-7 years, and he has continued his trend of alternating wins and losses. Magny had just scored a split-decision win over Phil Rowe in his last fight in June.
Unfortunately, Magny seems to wilt when the level of competition is raised, and it appears that’s what happened on Saturday. Perhaps Magny will get a rematch with another veteran like Michael Chiesa who also needs a win to remain in the hunt.
Chiesa was just submitted by Kevin Holland in his last fight, and he scored a unanimous-decision win over Magny in 2021. It’s not a great bout on paper, but it would seemingly make sense considering where both veterans are at this stage of their careers.
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