"He's my best mate now" - Ian Garry gushes about 'surreal' experience of befriending and training with Irish MMA superstar Conor McGregor

Ian Garry is hoping to follow in Conor McGregor's footsteps by becoming the second UFC champion from Ireland. 'The Future', who recently trained with 'The Notorious', described the opportunity to meet one of his idols.

Speaking to Ariel Helwani of The MMA Hour, the No.11-ranked welterweight shared that the meeting came about after he reached out to the former double champ via DMs before adding:

"It was one of the most surreal experiences because, obviously being a fan and being emotionally invested in everything that man did and then getting to have the ability to stand, train with the guy, talk to the guy, go and have dinner with the guy afterwards and do it in a way where it's like - honestly Ariel, we met up three times and I feel like he's my best mate now. I've never met someone who's so like me in my life."

Garry described how he feels about his newly formed friendship, stating:

"The biggest takeaway from meeting Conor is the fact that I have a friendship now that I believe is very powerful and very special in someone who I can look up to and learn from. Someone who's done it all in the sport. Someone who's had all the highs, all the lows. All the biggest things in the sport all have his name attached to it and he's wanted to change the game more than anybody so to be able to have that friendship, it's so powerful, it's so special and I'm so grateful."

Check out Ian Garry's comments on training with Conor McGregor below:

Conor McGregor joined the UFC in 2013 and almost instantly became the biggest star that mixed martial arts has ever seen. He became the first double champ in promotional history in 2016. 'The Notorious' went on to face Floyd Mayweather in a 2017 boxing match that had the second-highest buy rate in pay-per-view history, trailing only 'Money's 2015 bout against Manny Pacquiao. He has headlined each of the six best-selling pay-per-view events in UFC history.

While Ian Garry has a long way to go to reach McGregor's level of success, he has gotten off to a great start. 'The Future' is 13-0 in his mixed martial arts career, with six of his wins coming in the UFC. He is now the No.11-ranked welterweight and his most recent bout marked his first appearance on the main card of a pay-per-view event.

Ian Garry hopes to train with Conor McGregor ahead of his next bout

Ian Garry has shared that he is hoping to fight up in the rankings in his next bout as he looks to work his way towards a welterweight title opportunity. While 'The Future' does not have an opponent or date set, he recently expressed his desire to train with Conor McGregor ahead of his next fight. During a recent appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, the No.11-ranked welterweight stated:

"I would love to train with him for this camp. I would love to have that energy leading up to the fight because it's fun, it's a passion, it's an excitement... That man, the energy that he brings to me, the energy that I bring to him, the fun that we could have leading up to a fight, in a heartbeat I would travel the world to spend a week with that man leading up to a fight."

Check out Ian Garry's comments on training with Conor McGregor below (starting at the 2:22 mark):

While Conor McGregor has hinted that his return from a more than two-year hiatus could come at UFC 296, nothing has been made official. It remains to be seen if Ian Garry will look to get on the card with the hopes of training with the former double champ.