Ian Machado Garry gives unfiltered reaction to UFC rankings spot in light of Shavkat Rakhmonov loss at UFC 310: "That’s the way I look at it"

Ian Machado Garry is not happy with his spot in the UFC rankings in the wake of his defeat against Shavkat Rakhmonov. The Irishman gave his assessment of why he deserves better.

The co-headlining match of the UFC's final pay-per-view of 2024, UFC 310, witnessed the then-undefeated Machado Garry take on teammate-turned-rival, unbeaten Kazakh fighter Shakvat Rakhmonov.

Their closely contested fight earned both combatants widespread praise. Ultimately, 'Nomad' defeated Garry via unanimous decision, handing him his first professional MMA loss.

During a recent interview with Sports Illustrated's MMA Knockout, Machado Garry alluded to his and Rakhmonov's respective rankings.

After their fight, Rakhmonov moved one spot up, going from No. 3 to his current position of No. 2, in the official UFC welterweight rankings. Meanwhile, Machado Garry stayed put at No. 7.

'The Future' appeared to strongly disapprove of his ranking. Alluding to his impressive performance in the matchup, Machado Garry insisted that he deserved to move up in the rankings despite the defeat:

"The way I look at this is that the fight against Shavkat was to be the number one contender in the world and go out and fight for the belt next ... If I'm not the number one contender of which Shavkat got his hand raised and has now cemented himself, I'm definitely number f**king two.

"That's the way I look at it. Because there's no way after that performance, you can't sit there and say that I'm one of the best in the division. So whatever the rankings want to officially say. It's okay."

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Ian Machado Garry willing to be backup for Belal Muhammad vs. Shavkat Rakhmonov

Moving forward, Ian Machado Garry sees himself volunteering to serve as the backup fighter for the expected UFC welterweight title showdown between reigning champion Belal Muhammad and Shavkat Rakhmonov.

He opined that it's potentially realistic that the UFC could give him that role, adding:

"However, we'll see when the cards come."

The rescheduled matchup between Muhammad and Rakhmonov is expected to go down in 2025. The champ previously withdrew from his UFC 310 booking against Rakhmonov, and Garry stepped in to fight 'Nomad'.

During the recent interview, Garry also once again lambasted longtime rival Colby Covington over his recent TKO loss to Joaquin Buckley, reiterating that 'Chaos' has been evading him.

As for himself, the 27-year-old UFC star highlighted that there's no clear-cut timetable for his return. Nevertheless, Garry signaled that he'd ideally like to compete in late spring or the early months of summer.