‘I’m A Better Person Than That’

Things could have gotten a little chaotic between Ian Machado Garry and Sean Strickland inside the UFC Performance Institute (P.I.) last month (December 2023).

Both Garry and Strickland have easily attracted enemies throughout their careers, but recently got on each other’s bad sides. The current UFC Middleweight champion, Strickland, aimed at Garry (along with the rest of the internet) after a book published by Garry’s wife, How to be a WAG, resurfaced online.

When both attended the UFC P.I. during recent trips to Las Vegas, tension built when the pair were in the same room as Strickland noted on social media right after the encounter. According to Garry, it was more of a passing-by than anything else.

“I wouldn’t say it was a scene,” Garry said on The MMA Hour. “It was more of a glance, and him being shuffled into a lift, and that was it. And he had a little snicker on his face, and I shouted something at him — I don’t know what I shouted at him, but I shouted something at him before I even had a chance to think.

“My body went straight into fight mode, and then the doors closed,” he concluded. “There was nothing much to it, to be honest.”

Garry and Strickland have sent a handful of verbal volleys each other’s way since this mini-rivalry kicked off, but haven’t had a proper conversation on the matter, which is what Garry would have liked had he the chance.

“I would have f—king talked to him, for sure,” Garry said. “I don’t know. See, this is the thing, I’m not going to start throwing hands with the bloke, because I’m a better person than that, and I would like to be above all the s—t that was said, and just sit there and be to him, ‘I feel sorry for you, man. I feel sorry for you — I feel sorry that all this s—t has you that hurt that you’re attacking everybody else.’ I feel like that’s what I’d like to say — what I would have said, I don’t know.”

Before the No. 10-ranked UFC Welterweight contender, Garry, gets back in action against Geoff Neal at UFC 299 on March 9, 2024, Strickland will defend his title against Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297 next weekend (Sat., Jan. 20, 2024).