It was once said by a compatriot of Ian Machado Garry that the best thing a fighter can have in combat sport are options.

And ahead of his seventh UFC bout this weekend on the main card of UFC 298 in Anaheim, California, options are one thing that certainly seem to be stretching out in front of the Dubliner. Machado Garry, a former Cage Warriors champion who is a perfect 13-0 in his professional career, fights the hard-hitting Geoff Neal late on Saturday night in a fight that could propel him further up the UFC’s welterweight ladder as he stakes his claim for a UFC title shot within his next three fights.

But outside of a pursuit for gold, the Irishman has also found himself embroiled in rivalries with both Sean Strickland and Colby Covington — and as he told the media, including The Mac Life, on Wednesday, they will both one day find themselves having to answer to him.

“I’ll get mine back,” Machado Garry said, referencing his public feud with former middleweight champion Strickland. “I’ll thump the f*cking mouth off Sean Strickland one day, and there will be nothing he can do about it. I’ll talk to him, I’ll dance in his face, I’ll do whatever I want, because the truth is when we get locked into that cage one day, he’s never going to be able to deal with me.

“The truth is, I have a target on my back,” Machado Garry explained. “I have the ability to stand here and shoot shots at anyone I want, because this is my job, and they have the opportunity in return.

“So for me, when you attack people in my circle where they don’t deserve it, that’s out of line. Look, Sean Strickland is not the f*cking voice we should be listening to. He’s deeply, deeply indebted with trauma, and he should just be silent and try to deal with his own personal issues himself, and that’s where it mainly came from.”

Machado Garry added: “For sure, there’s no f*cking man on the planet that talks about my wife or my family like that and doesn’t get it eventually. The truth is, he’s never going to be relevant again. He’s lost the belt. He’s lost the interest. There’s a point at which I’ll jump in on a short-notice fight, and I’ll dance all over him. I’m far too quick. I’m far too talented, and he’ll just be missing.”

Colby Covington also did not escape the Dubliner’s crosshairs.

“I want to beat Geoff Neal in spectacular fashion this weekend, then I’m going to fight Colby Covington, and I’m going to retire him, and I’m going to rid the clown from the UFC,” he said. “I think he has no other choice. When I beat Geoff Neal on Saturday, there’s only one choice, and it’s what I say.”