Ian Garry is the UFC Charlotte fighter to watch
Ian Garry proves why he's the UFC Charlotte to watch when he goes up against Daniel Rodriguez.
Ian Machado Garry looks to follow in the path of fellow Irishman Conor McGregor as he faces his biggest step up in competition at UFC Charlotte against Daniel Rodriguez. Garry is unbeaten and looks to make it five in a row since joining the UFC in 2021 while Rodriguez's four-fight winning streak was snapped in November.
Ireland's Garry was inspired by McGregor to expand his martial arts career and went pro at the age of 21, shifting his focus solely to MMA. Garry went 7-0 with Cage Warriors (the same promotion where McGregor came up) and finished five of his fights before the third round.
Garry won the welterweight championship with the promotion and five months later signed with the UFC. Garry had wins over Jordan Williams, Darian Weeks and Gabe Green before knocking out Song Kenan at UFC 285, making it the biggest win of his career, and will now be matched up with the No. 15-ranked Rodriguez.
Ian Garry faces the biggest test of his unbeaten career against Daniel Rodriguez
Rodriguez had a stint with Bellator and a fight on Dana White's Contender Series before joining the UFC with a 10-1 record and nine finishes. Rodriguez started off his UFC career with a 3-0 record before suffering a loss to Nicolas Dalby. Rodriguez then reeled off four straight against Mike Perry, Preston Parsons, Kevin Lee, and Li Jingliang. Rodriguez was then submitted by Neil Magny at UFC Vegas 64 and is looking to get back to his winning ways against the young hype train Garry.
This will be Garry's first fight on a UFC card that isn't a pay-per-view event and will the hold the height advantage, but the reach is the same for both fighters. Rodriguez is a purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu while Garry is a black belt in Judo, so we'll see if Rodriguez will test the ground game of Garry and take his zero. Garry will most likely join the rankings if he is able to get past Rodriguez, which will take place on the main card.
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