Can Machado Garry grab UFC welterweight spotlight?

When Ian Machado Garry takes on Belal Muhammad on Saturday in Qatar, he claims that he has the chance to make everyone else in the welterweight division “irrelevant.”

In a fight that could determine the number one contender against welterweight champion Islam Makhachev, the Irishman, who is ranked sixth, will face second-ranked American Muhammad.

Last week at UFC 322, Makhachev dominated Jack Della Maddalena with a card featuring several other welterweight competitors who were in the spotlight.

Leon Edwards, a former world champion, was knocked out by Brazil’s Carlos Prates, and Michael Morales of Ecuador’s Michael Morales of the United States, did the same.

One thing needs to be made clear, I want to say. Everyone in this room, in every interview I’ve given this week, has questions for people from the previous week, Machado Garry said.

When I defeat Belal Muhammad this week, I render Belal Muhammad out of the welterweight division. I’ll establish myself as the top contender.

The 28-year-old Machado Garry’s victory over Muhammad, 37, will undoubtedly bring his name to the minds of Makhachev’s upcoming challenger, but he may need to do so in a special way to win.

Prates’ victory in the straight left defeat of Edwards elevated him to fifth place in the welterweight rankings.

Morales, by contrast, outperformed Brady before coming off the bench to record his 19-game unbeaten run and move up to third place in the rankings.

Shavkat Rakhmonov, who is ranked four and defeated Machado Garry in the UFC last December, finished sixth, but the Kazakhstani fighter is currently out injured.

Prates (90%), Rakhmonov (86%), and Morales (71%) all have higher UFC finish rates than Machado Garry (33%), but he is confident of persuading the matchmakers he deserves to be next.

“It’s about being the best and most interesting,” added Machado Garry. I was the deciding factor in what happens to the rest of the division, despite the guys’ excellent work last week.

“It’s my entire goal this weekend to go out there and prove to myself that Ian Machado Gary is the best welterweight currently on the planet.”

After defeating Della Maddalena, Makhachev, 34, demanded a title fight with Kamaru Usman, the previous champion.

The 38-year-old Nigerian, who defeated Joaquin Edwards in June, is eighth overall in the world rankings, one place ahead of Edwards.

Machado Garry claims that since the division has advanced, Makhachev should concentrate on developing younger fighters like Prates and Morales rather than “has-beens.”

Because it’s an easy fight, an easy pay check, and a first title defense, he continued, “If I were Islam, I would want to fight Usman as well.”

On the undercard, two British lightweight team-mates will make their UFC debuts.

At featherweight, Bogdan Grad of Austria takes on Liverpool’s Luke Riley, who has won his first 11 fights so far.

Nurullo Aliev, a fellow Liverpudlian, will face lightweight from Tajikistan, by Shem Rock, a fellow Liverpudlian.

The pair have traveled together and are set to corner them for their fights in Doha, according to Pimblett, who is fifth in the lightweight UFC rankings.