Following a close title fight in the Welterweight division between Islam Makhachev and Ian Garry, Dana White has criticised Ian Garry for not taking advantage of the opportunity to dethrone Makhachev and being too friendly in the Octagon. White did not hold back in his criticisms of the Irishman, who had been very respectful to the Makhachev in the buildup to the bout.
Garry did present Makhachev with perhaps the toughest fight of his career, with many fans having the bout scored evenly going into the last round and while two of the judges only gave Garry one round, it can be argued that Garry definitely gave Makhachev more damage then he received in rounds three and four.
Ultimately, the fight came down Mackhacev’s ability to edge the rounds through his control time. Even in round five, Makhachev landed zero significant strikes to Garry’s seven, but Makhachev’s control edged him the round in the eyes of the judges. With the potential exception of Alexander Volkanovski, Garry gave Makhachev his toughest fight yet, and has cemented his name as one of the best fighters in the sport, regardless of whether he holds the belt or not.
Dana White did not hold back in his criticism of Garry. Speaking at the post-fight press conference, he said”I felt like tonight was set up for the upset. I felt like the upset could happen tonight with so much on the line, all the records that Islam has, and he’s going to break Anderson Silva’s record. There’s weight classes for a reason. Ian Garry is a big, rangy, strong guy who has great takedown defense. I mean, if you look at his takedown defense tonight against Islam, it was impressive. I felt like, I think that Ian is a talented guy.”
White added “Islam’s whole right side was beat up. His face was beat up. You don’t come out and hug and shake hands. That.. drives me crazy. When there’s so much at stake. And there’s also a lot of mental gamesmanship in this game. You come out in that fifth round with a flying knee or something crazy, and you try to finish that fight. I think this is one of those fights where Ian says, ‘I wish I could do that over again.’”
Whilst the criticism seems rather harsh, there is truth to White’s words. If you were asked to judge the fight based on who came out looking more damaged, Garry would have won the bout. But in the fifth round when he perhaps needed to take more risks, he did not put it all on the line. Perhaps Garry would argue that he believed he only needed to win the round and not finish the fight but relying on judges is always a risk in close fights.
Garry will undoubtedly remain one of the top contenders in the division and remain a nightmare matchup for most fighters. He showed that his grappling capabilities are of a very good standard and perhaps dealt with the grappling of Makhachev better than anyone before. Perhaps Dana White’s comments are correct and Garry developing a killer instinct is what will push him over the edge in these close fights.
