"If I stayed in Ireland, I’d be the guy."
Irish MMA star Ian Garry has discussed the rationale behind his move to Florida ahead of his bout against Darian Weeks at UFC 273 in Jacksonville, Florida, on Saturday night. He also spoke about the differences between his new gym and Conor McGregor's SBG gym in Dublin.
'The Future' made his UFC debut at Madison Square Garden in November, where he recorded a first-round knock-out over Jordan Williams to extend his undefeated MMA record (8-0-0).
Garry, 24, moved to Sanford MMA in Florida following his exit from Swords' Team KF Martial Arts.
Ian Garry on emigrating out of Ireland.
Garry discussed making the choice to leave Ireland. The Raheny native said he could have stayed in Ireland and been "the guy," but he wanted to move to the United States and improve his skillset.
The former Cage Warriors welterweight champion detailed how nobody at Sanford MMA wins every round, which improves and keeps all the fighters on their game.
“There’s obviously advantages to staying in Ireland. Like if I stayed in Ireland, I’d be the guy. But I don’t want to be the guy. I want to be pushed," Garry told
Sherdog.
Garry discusses Conor McGregor and the difference between training regimes.
According to Garry, the major difference between his current gym in the USA, and McGregor's set-up in Dublin, is the quality of fighters they face in training. Garry currently trains with UFC pound for pound number one Kamaru Usman and top contender Gilbert Burns.
“The guys I’m stepping onto the mats here, they f**king hand hidings out every day to everyone," he said.
"There’s not a single person in this gym that wins every round, that wins every minute of sparring. It is tough."
Garry, however, rejected suggestions that McGregor eeded to move camp to be more successful, given the 33-year-old won two UFC world titles simultaneously earlier in his career.
“People say to me like ‘Oh, Conor would have been a much better fighter had he gone away.’ I’m like ‘he done good enough! He did good enough where he was.’ I’m not going to think about if he could’ve done better. He done what he did,” Garry
added.
Garry's fight against Weeks at UFC 273 will be televised on BT Sport 1 at 1:00 am on Sunday morning.
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