Ian Machado Garry gets honest on being involved in Charles Oliveira's "powerful, cathartic, religious, cultural" weight-cutting process 

Ian Machado Garry got a front-row seat to witness Charles Oliveira’s famed weight-cut ritual. And what he saw was personal, cultural, and deeply emotional.

Oliveira cuts weight for fights surrounded by his team, his family, and his people. His team sing, chants, and prays together for the health of their beloved fighter. Hands are placed on him to pass strength and calm. It’s a group ritual built on faith and love.

Garry described the atmosphere as intense and moving. He said he was in tears watching it unfold. Speaking about the experience in an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, Garry said:

"From my point of view, watching what happened that night, it was one of the most beautiful experiences I’ve ever been a part of [a] powerful, cathartic, religious, cultural [experience like that]. I was sobbing my eyes out with the energy. I can never describe it to you. It’s something you can only feel."

He added:

"Everything about it was a higher connection, a higher power, and that’s unique to him... I feel like when you’re surrounded by people that you love and care about, and they give you that vibration energy, and they sit there and they pray for you and they put hands on you and they pass on their energy to make you stronger, so that God protects you, helps you with a smart weight cut, a safe weight cut, you go into that fight mentally free."

Check out Ian Machado Garry's comments below (2:10):

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Ian Machado Garry breaks down why Charles Oliveira beats Ilia Topuria

Ian Machado Garry believes Charles Oliveira has too many weapons for Ilia Topuria. While he respects Topuria’s recent knockouts and sees him as one of the top fighters today, Garry thinks Oliveira brings a different level of chaos.

Garry sees the fight as a violent collision, where Oliveira will thrive with more tools, more experience, and more finishing options. Previewing the fight in the aforementioned conversation with Ariel Helwani, Garry said:

“Charles is one of the greatest threats the UFC has ever seen. Anywhere the fight can get finished and it’s over like that, it’s done in a second. From flashy jiu-jitsu to one-punch combos, his style is mesmerizing and chaotic. When you’ve got that aggression from Ilia and that chaos from Charles, I only see this being a car crash fight... So for me, there’s so many ways for Charles to be dangerous and offensively vicious, and his tools I believe, are far more... His arsenal is far deeper than Ilia’s is."