Sean Brady calls out Ian Machado Garry for No. 1 contender fight: 'He knows what they want'

Yahoo

13-05-2025

Sean Brady has one fight in mind after the welterweight landscape shifted at UFC 315.
Jack Della Maddalena was the man of the hour this past Saturday in Montreal, Canada, as he made good on his title fight opportunity against the now-former champion Belal Muhammad. With Brady and several other welterweight contenders sitting cageside, "JDM" walked away with the title via unanimous decision after a back-and-forth five-round war.
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UFC 315's main event had significant implications on more than just the welterweight division, as UFC lightweight king Islam Makhachev let his two-division goals be known at the night's close. With Della Maddalena vs. Makhachev now potentially next up at 170 pounds, No. 1-ranked contender Brady immediately shifted his focus.
"I see it two ways," Brady explained on Monday's edition of "The Ariel Helwani Show." "If Belal won, there's a better chance of me definitely getting a title shot, which would be amazing. But I knew if Jack won that I'd be fighting again, which I've been saying since the Leon [Edwards] fight [in March].
"I'm fine with it — [let's do] me and Ian [Machado Garry]. People are very surprised I keep saying that. Like, 'Oh, you don't want the title shot?' Of course I want the title shot, but there's still Shavkat [Rakhmonov] there, there's Islam saying he's moving up, you've got Kamaru [Usman] and [Joaquin] Buckley saying whoever wins [at UFC Atlanta is] getting a title shot. We're all going to have to fight. I'm going to have to fight Ian Garry eventually. Why not just do it now and get it out of the way, if I'm as good as I think I am?"
Despite Brady's position as the top-ranked contender, Garry entered fight week as the backup fighter for UFC 315's main event. Had Muhammad successfully beaten Della Maddalena and Garry strolled into the cage afterward for a faceoff, Brady said there's no way he wasn't also following suit himself.
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But Della Maddalena ultimately played spoiler, setting up the potential of a Makhachev matchup. After making two separate lightweight title defenses against featherweight champions, Makhachev has been vocal about wanting his turn to try and claim a second division's title.
From Brady's perspective, there are two ways to view the situation.
"I would rather see [Makhachev] stay where he's at and kind of clean out 155 [pounds]," he said. "The whole double champ thing is hard, especially when two of his fights were against [Alexander] Volkanovski, and then he does have Dustin Poirier but there's still guys at 155, then you have Ilia [Topuria] trying to come up. But then again, on the other hand he's done so much. If he's going to move up, is he going to stay there though? Because if not, now you're holding up two divisions [if you win].
"So if he's going to move up, then me and Ian are fighting. I know that's the fight to make, and that's just the way I see it."
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If Makhachev is indeed the name for Della Maddalena's first UFC title defense, it doesn't get much more difficult than the world's No. 1-ranked pound-for-pound fighter.
Although he's still proving himself to the world, Della Maddalena has won 18 straight fights since losing his first two professional bouts. After seeing his title-winning performance against Muhammad, Brady believes the new champion will put up a better fight against Makhachev than many seem to expect.
"I think 'JDM' is going to make it a lot more interesting than what people would think it would be," Brady said. "He fights as good as he does southpaw, orthodox. He's hard to take down. He just has this ability to create these scrambles and get right back to his feet.
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"He started working with Craig Jones — Craig's known for doing unorthodox stuff like that, and it definitely added to his game plan and his weapons. ... I think Jack's going to hang around for a little bit longer than people think."
After submitting the former champion Edwards in March, Brady is eyeing a return of his own in August or September to keep his momentum rolling, and he fully expects it to come against Garry — despite the Irishman's insistence on getting a title shot first.
"Ian's not scared of me. Ian just wants the title shot," Brady said. "That's what he's thinking he's getting next, which I know is not true. I know I'm not even getting it. Islam's getting it.
"[Garry] knows who the fight is. He knows. [We share the] same manager. He knows the landscape, he knows what they want. It makes the most sense and it makes more sense for him. I'm the No. 1 guy. You're like six rankings behind me or wherever you're at. It could be the other way around — I could be saying, 'Nope, I'm sitting on my spot. Not giving it up. I'm going to sit on it until I get my title shot.' And I'm not here doing that. I'm 32 years old, I'm in the prime of my career, I feel great, I want to fight, and like I said, whether Ian is [ranked] six or No. 2 or the champion, eventually I'm going to have to fight him because he is good. So why not just fight now?"