\u201cIslam Makhachev is one of the greatest fighters walking the planet earth right now. The number one pound-for-pound fighter on the planet, a two-weight world champion, a former Sambo and European world champion\u2026 When you beat Islam, it changes the way everyone in the world thinks about you, and I\u2019m going to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Check out Ian Machado Garry\u2019s comments below:<\/p>\n
Ian Machado Garry\u2019s Cryptic Message Targeting MMA Manager<\/p>\n
Now, Ian Machado Garry has dropped another post, hinting that Ali Abdelaziz, Islam Makhachev\u2019s manager, may have turned down a Makhachev vs. Garry matchup. \u2018The Future\u2019 posted on Threads:<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeones manager sounds like he is worried \ud83d\udc40\u201d<\/p>\n
Check out Ian Machado Garry\u2019s comments below:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-02-01-at-12.33.37-AM.png\")
<\/p>\n
Abdelaziz doesn\u2019t think \u2018The Future\u2019 deserves a title shot and has vowed to push for Kamaru Usman<\/a>, so that the latter gets the opportunity instead. <\/p>\n Meanwhile, Islam Makhachev is expected to make his first title defense after Ramadan, and rumors suggest he will fight Michael Morales. <\/p>\n However, Ian Machado Garry has racked up back-to-back wins over Carlos Prates and Belal Muhammad<\/a> in 2025. \u2018The Future\u2019 has just one loss on his MMA record, which came against former training partner<\/a> Shavkat Rakhmonov in 2024. The Irishman has also stepped up on short notice and proven himself a true company man. <\/p>\n While his recent wins haven\u2019t been finishes, Garry is a highly calculated fighter who gave \u2018Nomad\u2019 real problems. Considering Rakhmonov and Islam Makhachev share similar fight styles, Garry could be a problem for the P4P king, too.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/gettyimages-2247969537-612x612-1.jpg\")
DOHA, QATAR \u2013 NOVEMBER 22: (R-L) Ian Machado Garry of Ireland and Belal Muhammad trade punches in a welterweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at ABHA Arena on November 22, 2025, in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Jeff Bottari\/Zuffa LLC)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ian Machado Garry has dropped a cryptic post on Threads that has got the MMA community buzzing. It\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450193,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":["post-450192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}