Ian Machado Garry kept receipts.
For anyone questioning the legitimacy of a fight proposed between him and Colby Covington at UFC 303, the top-10 ranked welterweight has emails showing the offer and his immediate acceptance. Unfortunately, Garry said the same couldn’t be said for Covington, and UFC eventually lost interest and booked him against Michael “Venom” Page instead.
“I’ll send you the email. I was offered the fight,” Garry said on The MMA Hour. “I was offered the fight, I was offered it June 29, UFC 303, Ian Machado Garry vs. Colby Covington. I responded back to that and said yes. I had multiple calls with the UFC, multiple back and forths with the UFC about why it hasn’t been accepted, why it hasn’t been pushed, why it’s not happening.
“I was on the phone so much with them because I knew that fight was the one I wanted. I will push [for] the fight I know I want. At the end of the day, I can’t make a man step into the octagon with me if he’s scared of me.”
Garry said there was no hesitation on his part to take the fight, however he heard a multitude of reasons why Covington wasn’t returning the favor.
“Honestly, there was so many different reasons that just didn’t align in my mind,” Garry said. “They said at first he can’t get [medically cleared], and then it was, ‘Oh, he’s fine, he wants the fight.’ He’s on talking about, ‘I’ll fight, I’ll fight, I’ll fight,’ but then he’s not accepting.
“The truth is, I think he’s just avoiding me. I don’t think there’s any one [thing]. He’s just avoiding the fight because he knows, ‘Ian Garry’s too dangerous for me to step in that octagon with, I’ll try to wait and find someone else.’”
Garry proposed the Covington fight for a number of reasons, not the least of which were the insults the three-time title challenger hurled at him, his wife, and his family during interviews leading into Covington’s loss to Leon Edwards this past December.
Covington’s vitriol aimed towards Garry hasn’t slowed down since, and he even called the Irishman a “liar,” claiming that he never received an offer for the matchup.
Still, Garry believes deep down that Covington knows why the fight never came together.
“I don’t know, sitting here right now, if I ever believe that he will accept a fight with me,” Garry said. “I think Colby Covington looks at me and I think he sees the end of his career. A young, talented prospect, super sharp, super fast, super smart, and different to anyone else he’s ever fought. That’s scary when you’re on the latter end of your career and you’re just trying to stay relevant and beat people who aren’t going to be world champions and aren’t going to be the best.
“I think he’s going to look for other easier opponents and I don’t see a world where Colby ever fights me. But if he wants to, then by all means back it up, because you’ve talked too much shit to not get in that octagon with me.”
Of course, Garry knows it would be awfully hard to pass up on a fight against Covington if that came back around again.
“I will never say I’m done with it,” Garry said. “Because that man’s talked too much shit to not step in that octagon and go out there and destroy him, because he deserves to have the head slapped off him.”
When it came time to shift his focus from Covington to Page at UFC 303, Garry confessed it wasn’t easy, but that’s just part of the job.
Ideally he’d be knocking out Covington on Saturday night, but he’ll attempt to do the same to Page, even if there’s really no bad blood between them.
“I was so excited, so buzzing to get that Colby fight,” Garry said. “To get Colby, to have the ability to punch his mouth in, to shut him up, to really just dog walk him, just go out there and destroy him in every way, shape and form. But he ran. He said no and it was hard to re-shift that energy, re-shift that alignment to go, ‘Right, who’s next?’ Then I had a rake of opponents say no, no, no, no, no. Then eventually we fell and MVP turned around after he said no initially and come back and said yes.
“Yes, it was hard, but now it’s not. Now it’s OK. I’m one of the best fighters on the planet, I’m going to go out there and prove it, and MVP’s my example.”
