Ian Machado Garry can’t believe Jack Della Maddalena is fighting for the welterweight championship at UFC 315.
Belal Muhammad (24-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) was scheduled to make his first title defense against Shavkat Rakhmonov, but the undefeated contender couldn’t compete due to injury. Muhammad was instead matched up with Della Maddalena (17-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC) in the May 10 headliner (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) at Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Although Machado Garry (15-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) is coming off a decision loss to Rakhmonov at UFC 310 this past December, he thinks he would have been a more logical choice for the title shot.
“Why aren’t I fighting for the title? I had a chat with my agent,” Garry posted on his Instagram. “I rang him when he told me about this news, and I was livid – still am to this day. I had a No. 1 contender’s fight where the guy (Rakhmonov) now has to get knee reconstruction and is out for a year. But you know, it’s not my fault. I didn’t do it. I didn’t stab his knee 20 something times and boot the leg off. I’m not fighting for a world title because I’m coming off a loss, and they’re giving it to a guy who’s been injured for a year, and they think that’s more exciting, but they’re wrong.
“The world title fight was meant to be Shavkat Rakhmonov taking on Belal Muhammad, but Shavkat apparently is out injured. I wonder how that happened? Now they’re pulling in a guy who hasn’t fought in a year because he’s had an operation on his forearm because he broke it in his last fight, hasn’t fought in a long time, and hasn’t been active. So, they’ve given it to Jack Della Maddalena because I’m coming off of a loss. That’s OK. Don’t worry. I’ll get you all. You’re all mine.”
Although Della Maddalena hasn’t competed since a comeback knockout of Gilbert Burns at UFC 299 in March 2024, he is on a 17-fight winning streak. Meanwhile, Machado Garry’s loss to Rakhmonov marked the first of his career.
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