Ian Machado Garry has issued his first comments since his removal from this weekend’s UFC 296 fight card in Las Vegas.
It was revealed early on Thursday by UFC CEO Dana White that the unbeaten Dubliner had been pulled from his fight on Saturday night against former Kill Cliff FC training partner Vicente Luque after it was discovered that he had developed pneumonia following a recent bout of flu.
Shortly afters, Ariel Helwani was in contact with Garry who told the MMA journalist of his disappointment at the decision made by UFC doctors who had determined that he was not healthy enough to take part at the event.
“I have pneumonia,” former Cage Warriors champion Garry told Helwani, according to a social media post. They tried everything to help me. In the end, UFC doctor said there’s no chance I can fight. The UFC doctor made the call.”
He added: “This annoys me more than anyone. I want to fight. It’s my favourite thing to do.” Helwani added that Garry sounded audibly sick in their exchange.
It remains to be seen the UFC will seek to find a short notice replacement for Luque, or if matchmakers will attempt to rebook the fight in the new year once Garry returns to health.
The Irishman had been seeking to move to 7-0 in the UFC in the fight with Luque as he continues his ascent up the UFC welterweight ladder.
Garry’s withdrawal is the latest high profile pullout from a UFC event in the past few months, which has also seen fights between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic and Islam Makhachev and Charles Oliveira fall out for a variety of reasons in the UFC’s last two pay-per-view cards.
