A high stakes welterweight clash was recently made official as Ian Garry will take on another top-ranked contender on an impressive winning streak in the main event of UFC Tampa. The Fight Night card is scheduled to take place at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida on Dec. 14 and is shaping up to be an action packed night with plenty of notable names already booked.
The Irishman has surged up the rankings and is currently the No.7 ranked welterweight with an unbeaten 15-0 MMA record that includes wins over Michael 'Venom' Page, Geoff Neal and Neil Magny. He will have his hands full as the UFC made it official that he will be fighting Joaquin Buckley in the main event.
Buckley comes into the fight riding a five-fight winning streak that includes wins over the likes of Vicente Luque, Nursulton Ruziboev and most recently Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson.
He is currently ranked No.9 in the welterweight division, and so the winner could definitely put themselves in a potential title eliminator should they close out 2024 in spectacular fashion.
Check out UFC's tweet announcing Ian Garry vs. Joaquin Buckley below:
Ian Garry offered to step in for UFC 310 prior to latest bout announcement
Prior to his main event clash with Joaquin Buckley being officially announced for Dec.14, Ian Garry offered to replace Belal Muhammad and take on Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310.
The reigning welterweight champion was forced to withdraw after suffering an infection in his toe. After Rakhmonov expressed interest in remaining on the card in an interim title bout, Garry took to his X account and volunteered his services.
Garry posted a clip from a past press conference in which he mentions that he'd like to be the first fighter to hand 'Nomad' a loss:
"That fight [against Rakhmonov] excites me so much. I have nothing but respect for the dude. It's purely out of I don't want anyone to beat him before me. He's 18-0, I'm 15-0, let's go out there and put on a show."
Check out Ian Garry's post below: