Ian Machado Garry has lost his unbeaten record but he isn’t too disheartened by the manner of his UFC 310 loss to Shavkat Rakhmonov. 

Garry became the first man in 19 bouts to take the undefeated Kazakh the distance, even coming close to securing a submission win in the final round when he sank in what for a moment appeared to be a deep rear-naked choke. Ultimately though, Rakhmonov rallied and took the unanimous decision on the scorecards by three rounds to two (48-47 x3).

The result of the contest will draft Rakhmonov into a title bout with welterweight champion Belal Muhammad sometime next year, while Garry’s own title ambitions have hit their first road block since his debut with the organisation in November 2021.

But despite the setback, Garry told the media in Las Vegas post-fight (including The Mac Life) that the manner of his performance shows exactly why he should be considered one of the 170-pound fold’s most elite fighters.

“I am humble in victory and defeat, I always have been, and I do not feel like I lost today,” the Irishman said, as noted by MMA Fighting.

“My hand might not have got raised, but I came out and I fought a giant. I came out and I fought the boogeyman and I showed that he’s f*cking human. I went out there on three weeks’ notice, I saved this event, I saved this card against the scariest man in the division and I went out there and I stopped almost everything.

“There was at no point where he looked like he finished the fight, I put him in two submissions. I took his back. I had fun. I showed that I can hang with the single best of the division and I proved tonight on short notice that I can absolutely be a champion and I can do it for five rounds and there’s no holes in my game. There’s nothing that man brought for me tonight. He won by opinion and that’s OK. I can live with that and I’m very happy with my performance tonight.

“I went out there against the scariest man and I nearly f*cking finished him,” Garry said. “That shows that I have a championship mentality. Twenty-five minutes, I stood in there across from him, he didn’t have anything more than I have. I stopped every single one of his takedowns, it was clean, I made him fight tooth and nail for everything. That shows the level of talent I have and I deserve to be one of the best in the world and I deserve more respect from this now.”

While Garry’s next move remains unclear, it is likely that he will next be fighting one of the division’s top names as he seeks to return to title contention — and into a position to once again challenge Rakhmonov.