Ian Machado Garry is not impressed with Islam Makhachev\u2019s attempt to set up a title fight against aging former champion Kamaru Usman rather than one of the young hungry dogs at 170.<\/p>\n
Makhachev, Khabib, Usman, and their manager have all been talking up<\/a> \u201cThe Nigerian Nightmare\u201d as a worthy first title defense for Islam, despite Usman only having one win in the past four years. That doesn\u2019t erase Kamaru\u2019s five title defenses at 170 or his record-setting 15 fight win streak in the division, they say.<\/p>\n But granting No. 8 ranked Usman a title shot would leave No. 2 through 7 in the lurch, and that makes No. 6 ranked Ian Machado Garry angry. Garry is about to fight No. 2 ranked Belal Muhammad at UFC Qatar,<\/a> and he wants that title shot with a win.<\/p>\n \u201cKhabib and his team are very smart, and they are very intelligent at choosing fights and making interesting matchups,\u201d Garry told TNT Sports. \u201cKamaru Usman is f–king irrelevant in the welterweight division right now. And excuse my language, but that\u2019s a fact. He\u2019s a has been. And yes, at one point in time, he was arguably the greatest welterweight of all time. He\u2019s not close now.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think Khabib and that whole fight team, they know how to spin the wording to build a fight. But there\u2019s no interest, no fan wants to see that fight. They wanna see him versus me. They wanna see him versus Shavkat [Rakhmonov]. They wanna see Islam versus Prates and Morales. They wanna see the new generation of this welterweight division.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019ve got someone who\u2019s pushing 40 years of age and is nearly No. 10 in the world? He\u2019s irrelevant,\u201d Garry continued. \u201cSo I think that\u2019s just Islam trying to get that 17th consecutive win against an easy opponent, someone who was at one point in time somebody but now is just trying to maintain relevance. So I don\u2019t wanna say anything disrespectful to Islam and his team, but I think it\u2019s a cop out.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe champion should face the No. 1 challenger. And Kamaru Usman isn\u2019t close to that.\u201d<\/p>\n