RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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A week removed from UFC 330, and Dana White is still not happy with Ian Machado Garry 's overly friendly approach against Islam Makhachev .
Earlier this month, Machado Garry (17-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) lost a unanimous decision to Makhachev (29-1 MMA, 18-1 UFC) in what was his first title opportunity in the UFC. The Irishman took heat from the MMA community after the bout due to his chummy attitude during the entire fight, often seen hugging, patting, and complimenting Makhachev – whom he was attempting to dethrone and take the UFC welterweight title from. White was one of Machado Garry's most vocal critics, and that still remains.
"You've worked your whole life to get there, and you come out in the fifth round after you do all this great work, which I thought he, I literally said to Hunter (Campbell) when the first round started – Islam had him up against the fence and was holding on to him and trying to – I said, 'If this is the game plan for five f*cking rounds, Islam's going to be in big trouble in the fifth round,' in my opinion," White said at the UFC Fight Night 285 post-fight press conference.
"I thought that Ian Garry did good work leading up to the fifth round, and I'm assuming that was the game plan, and you want to come out and start hugging and shaking hands. Tell them how f*cking great he is when they're putting the belt on you. It's just he might never have that opportunity again and probably will never get the opportunity at Islam again, who is going to go down as one of the all-time greats, if not the greatest, by the time he's done. So you have five f*cking minutes. Every second of that round counts. Don't waste 10 seconds telling this guy you f*cking love him."
White had mentioned post-UFC 330 that Machado Garry lacked "killer instinct." He isn't sure if this is something that will plague Machado Garry's fighting career or something he'll be able to overcome moving forward. Time will tell.
"You either have it or you don't, in my opinion, or you made the mistake one time and you won't do it again," White said. "We'll see how it plays out. And again, I'm not sh*tting on Ian. I mean, he's a classy guy. He's one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet, but be a f*cking nice guy when those five minutes are up. You can be as nice and as classy as, you know. You have five minutes to try to f*cking finish one of the greatest of all time and have that belt wrapped around your waist. From then on, you can tell Islam you love him and how great he is, and you can shake his hand and hug him and take pictures with him or whatever you want to do. You have five f*cking minutes to win. That was my point."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Dana White doubles down on criticism of Ian Machado Garry's chumminess in UFC 330 loss
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