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BBC News
27-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Machado Garry survives late blitz to beat Prates
Ian Machado Garry survived a late blitz from Carlos Prates to triumph by unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night in Kansas City, controlling the majority of the fight, Ireland's Machado Garry was hurt by some ground shots from the Brazilian but held on to the final bell in a tense was a welcome victory for Machado Garry after his defeat by Shavkat Rakhmonov in December while it was Prates' first loss in the UFC."I wasn't hurt enough to not know where I was, I was conscious in every moment. I know how dangerous that man is, I have nothing but respect for him," said Machado Garry. "That man hits like a truck. He's been on a tear but I told everyone what I was going to do - outclass him - and I believe I did that."The 27-year-old, like he did against Rakhmonov, took the Prates fight at the start of the month at short Garry was seeking to bounce back from the first defeat of his nine-fight UFC career and had targeted outclassing Prates over five rounds - and that is largely what he Garry received boos during his walkout in contrast to the popular Prates, who has become a fan favourite with four knockouts in his first four bouts. After a tentative opening few minutes, Machado Garry took advantage of a slip from Prates as he opened up a cut below his left eye with a heavy punch to the grounded Irishman started to utilise his range effectively, landing punch combinations as he out-struck Prates and took control in the second round.A blitz of uppercuts stunned Prates in the third, who was struggling to stifle Machado Garry's movement and land any telling with the fight heading into the latter stages, Prates came alive, pressuring Machado Garry to find a home for a big left and flying minutes remaining, Prates reversed a takedown from Machado Garry before landing some big shots on the crowd roared on the action at the T-Mobile Centre hoping for a finish, but Machado Garry survived until the end of the fight to secure the win on the judges' his post-fight interview, Machado Garry revealed he is the back-up fighter for the welterweight title fight between champion Belal Muhammad and Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315 on 10 May."My entire goal is to prove I'm one of the most game fighters who has ever existed. I've got the fighting Irish in my blood and this what's next for me," added Machado Garry.
BBC News
07-02-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Du Plessis unfazed by Strickland before UFC title defence
UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis maintains that he will be unaffected by anything Sean Strickland says in the lead-up to their re-match this two face off in the octagon at UFC 312 in Sydney, Australia, on Saturday night (23:00 GMT).The outspoken Strickland has taunted Du Plessis on social media by insulting the state of his native South Africa as well as pointing out the country's high levels of crime and wealth inequality."Strickland says a lot of things about a lot of things but he doesn't know anything," Du Plessis, 31, told BBC Sport Africa."It doesn't make a difference to me."Du Plessis became South Africa's first UFC champion when he beat Strickland via a split decision at UFC 297 in January last defended his title against Nigeria-born Israel Adesanya, in what was dubbed the 'Battle for Africa', in August. But, ahead of his meeting with Strickland at the Qudos Bank Arena, Du Plessis confirmed that the tension between himself and the American is genuine."I'm not somebody that is going to make up fake beef to try and sell a fight," he said."If you treat me with respect, I will treat you with respect. Sean Strickland sells fights through the way he speaks."But if you're going to try and bully me on a mic, I will make sure you know what it feels like to be bullied."Strickland has angered Australian media with a series of inflammatory comments before the Du Plessis, who is from Welkom in Free State, has respect for his opponent."It's not that I have any hate towards him. Emotions are high. There's no place to be friendly right now," he continued."We are competitors."We can be respectful if he wants to be and if not, I can also be disrespectful. I have respect for Strickland but he is not my friend." Du Plessis needs to be 'perfect' on fight night In their first meeting in Toronto at UFC 297, Strickland had success with his jab in the early rounds and landed more strikes than Du Plessis, but the South African cut Strickland's eye in the finished strongly and the fight went to the judges' scorecards, where Du Plessis triumphed 48-47, 48-47, South African has studied footage of that meeting and modified his strategy as he looks to secure a ninth straight victory in UFC."There's a lot of familiarities, but obviously we saw the mistakes we made and we made the adjustments," he said."We saw areas where we are better than him and where we can do even better, and he saw the same with us."So we had to fix every mistake because now they know those mistakes, so they are going to try to exploit that."With this fight camp, what we worked on is everything that I did to do it better, quicker and more precise, more accurate."I can't make small mistakes. The margin for error will be even smaller, so I need to be perfect on fight night." Extra effort to stay at the top By becoming his country's first UFC champion, Du Plessis has become one of the most recognisable and prominent sports figures in South has been viewed as a symbol of national pride given he opted to remain based in his homeland despite the fact it remains a developing territory in Du Plessis has become a polarising figure for some of his world views, including a show of support for United States President Donald Trump ahead of his fight against Du Plessis retains a hunger to remain at the top of his profession and is aware he has to set standards for others to follow."Ever since becoming world champion, I've had to prove that I'm the world champion to everybody that trains around me and work harder than every single person because I have to be the example of what it takes to be the best in the world," he said."The sacrifices needed to be made to be the best in the world [have] been tremendous, and it hasn't changed. To get to the top is one thing, to stay at the top is the exact same thing."You have to put in all that work. I've been loving every single moment of it."
BBC News
06-02-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
'Knock this guy out' - Strickland comments anger Australian media
Sean Strickland has angered Australian media with a series of inflammatory comments before his middleweight title fight against champion Dricus du Plessis at UFC 312 in Sydney on Saturday. Australian newspaper the Daily Telegraph put Strickland on their back page on Thursday, urging someone to "knock this guy out" after the American criticised Australia's government and 33, has made a number of controversial comments in fight week, which the UFC posted on its YouTube titled 'Sean Strickland Goes Off The Rails'.At Thursday's news conference in Sydney, after being shown the Daily Telegraph's back page Strickland was both cheered and booed by fans as he criticised the country's laws on free speech."I come to this country and speak about freedom of speech, guns, and taxes, and these communists in the media try to put me down," said Strickland."Why? Because you want to control the media and you don't like freedom of speech."Before that, Strickland had praised Australia, saying he could see himself living there if it was not for the country's "lack of freedoms". His tirade shines a spotlight on free speech in the UFC once again following a range of antisemitic, homophobic and transphobic comments made by American featherweight Bryce Mitchell last said Adolf Hitler was a "good guy" and that "the Holocaust ain't real", prompting UFC president Dana White to condemn the comments as "beyond disgusting".White said the UFC would not punish Mitchell, however, adding that while what he said "was one of the dumbest things I've ever heard", his comments would be protected by free an interview with Piers Morgan, White explained why Mitchell would not be reprimanded by the UFC."I think probably the most important free speech to protect is hate speech," White said. "Because when a government or a certain person can come out and determine saying 'this is hate speech', it's a very slippery slope and it's dangerous, in my opinion."Hate speech is punishable under Australian law and this week lawmakers passed a series of amendments to hate crime laws in Australia, including making hate symbols and terror offences punishable with mandatory jail terms ranging from one to six bout with Du Plessis is a rematch of their fight last January, which the South African won via split also made homophobic and transphobic comments in the build-up to that fight, with White adding the American was exercising his "free speech" at the post-fight news conference.
