Ian Machado Garry believes Leon Edwards should ‘kick it in’ and retire from MMA.
Garry believes Edwards doesn’t have the love or talent to be competing at MMA‘s highest level anymore following back-to-back defeats.
Edwards lost a title eliminator bout to Sean Brady in the main event of UFC London in his last fight back in March.
This came eight months after he dropped the UFC welterweight title in Manchester to Belal Muhammad, who has since lost the belt to Jack Della Maddalena.
Garry is fresh off a victory in April to Brazilian star Carlos Prates, having suffered his first career defeat to Shavkat Rakhmonov at the back end of 2024.
‘The Future’ joined Andy Goldstein and Darren Bent on talkSPORT’s Drive on Tuesday to discuss his career in the sport, but had some very strong words for Edwards.
“If I was Leon, I’d be retiring,” he said, speaking on his former teammate-turned rival.
“He clearly doesn’t have the love for it anymore and clearly doesn’t have the talent for it against the best young youth in the division.
“[I would tell him to] just kick it in, say you’re a world champion, go off on to the streets of Birmingham and tell the people the story of what was not what is.”
Garry used to train with Edwards at Team Renegade in Manchester, but was banned from the gym in October 2023, saying his presence was causing the Birmingham man ‘doubts and insecurities.’
Edwards, on the other hand, told talkSPORT in the same year that the pair never fell out, and his ‘coaches suspected he was a little bit of a snake,’ as Garry had been leaking information about other gyms.
This was during a time when ‘Rocky’ was at the peak of his powers, having dethroned Kamaru Usman of the welterweight title in August 2022.
UFC Welterweight Rankings
Top 15
Jack Della Maddalena – champion
- Belal Muhammad
- Sean Brady
- Shavkat Rakhmonov
- Leon Edwards
- Kamaru Usman
- Ian Machado Garry
- Joaquin Buckley
- Michael Morales
- Colby Covington
- Gilbert Burns
- Geoff Neal
- Stephen Thompson
- Carlos Prates
- Vicente Luque
- Michael Page
Edwards stopped Usman with a head kick that has since etched itself in UFC history books as one of the greatest knockouts of all time.
He then retained the strap in a rematch with Usman, before defending it once again in the main event of UFC 296 against Colby Covington.
However, Edwards had a poor showing at UFC 304 in Manchester last July and lost his title to Muhammad.
During Edwards’ title reign, Garry worked his way up to become one of the best UFC welterweights through victories over names like Neil Magny, Geoff Neal and Michael Page.
Then, after Edwards lost to Muhammad, Garry faced Rakhmonov in a title eliminator bout, but lost to a narrow unanimous decision.
Rakhmonov was then meant to face Muhammad for the belt, but the Kazakh was sidelined by an injury, and the latter wound up fighting Della Maddalena instead.
Australia’s Della Maddalena then defeated Muhammad after five rounds at UFC 315 to become the new champion.
Garry was upset that he didn’t get the call to fight Muhammad in Montreal but he has since cemented himself as a top title contender at welterweight by defeating Prates.
“The biggest thing that I take away from the Shavkat fight is that I am better than I am,” Garry concluded in his conversation with talkSPORT.
“I am better than I believe I am. I knew, leaving that Octagon, it was three rounds to two.
“I knew I’d lost, but I knew I was the more dangerous opponent, I knew I was the better all-round fighter, and if we ever fight again, which I hope we do, I will absolutely run trough that man.
“I will get that one back for sure.”
Garry may have to wait a few months until his next fight as it is likely that Della Maddalena will face UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev in his next fight.
Makhachev will vacate his lightweight title when Charles Oliveira fights Ilia Topuria in the main event of UFC 317 later this month.
He may also be put into a fight first with someone like Brady, who shot up to No. 2 in the UFC welterweight rankings after submitting Edwards.
Nonetheless, it wouldn’t surprise many MMA fans if Garry fought his way to a UFC title shot in the near future.
