{"id":5073,"date":"2024-12-24T20:38:19","date_gmt":"2024-12-24T19:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/?p=5073"},"modified":"2024-12-25T21:48:40","modified_gmt":"2024-12-25T20:48:40","slug":"ian-garry-challenges-kamaru-usman-between-respect-and-growing-hostility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/ian-garry-challenges-kamaru-usman-between-respect-and-growing-hostility\/","title":{"rendered":"Ian Garry Challenges Kamaru Usman: Between Respect and Growing Hostility"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>&#8220;The Future&#8221; sparks controversy with &#8220;The Nigerian Nightmare&#8221;:<\/strong> A heated verbal clash arises between rising star Ian Garry and former champion Kamaru Usman, with accusations and criticisms over a refused fight.<\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Respect Turned into Hostility<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The <strong>UFC welterweight division<\/strong> is witnessing intense tension after Ian Garry, ranked seventh worldwide, accused <strong>Kamaru Usman<\/strong>, ranked third and former welterweight champion, of refusing to face him. Usman, in turn, did not stay silent and revealed old messages showing Garry\u2019s admiration for him during his reign.<\/p>\n<div class=\"content-holder\">\n<div id=\"article-content\" class=\"keeda_widget article-content-holder\" data-postid=\"4470353\" data-slug-id=\"2048289\">\n<div class=\"sportskeeda-embed\" data-src=\"instagram\"><iframe id=\"instagram-embed-2\" class=\"instagram-media instagram-media-rendered\" src=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/C85I-beJnc0\/embed\/?cr=1&amp;v=14&amp;wp=540&amp;rd=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sportskeeda.com&amp;rp=%2Fmma%2Fnews-kamaru-usman-buy-idea-ian-garry-one-fight-away-ufc-welterweight-title-shot-you-ve-still-got-ahead#%7B%22ci%22%3A2%2C%22os%22%3A1259.699999988079%2C%22ls%22%3A987.1999999880791%2C%22le%22%3A1220.9000000357628%7D\" height=\"665\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-instgrm-payload-id=\"instagram-media-payload-2\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Speaking on his podcast <strong>&#8220;Pound 4 Pound&#8221;<\/strong> with Henry Cejudo, Usman said:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>&#8220;He was a fan of mine, a big fan!&#8221;<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Ian Garry: &#8220;It\u2019s a Fact, Usman Refused the Fight!&#8221;<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In an interview with Swedish media, Garry strongly criticized Usman after the latter disclosed their private messages, asserting that Usman\u2019s refusal to face him ruined all respect he had for him:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>&#8220;I used to respect him a lot, but when the same person refuses to face you, your opinion of them changes. I don\u2019t care about his excuses. For me, he\u2019s an arrogant person.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">He added:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>&#8220;I used to watch him when I was just an amateur and admired his fight against Gilbert Burns. But today, he\u2019s not the person I thought he was.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Kamaru Usman Responds: I Don\u2019t Refuse Anyone<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Usman claimed that he does not avoid any fight, pointing to his record as evidence. His most recent bout was against <strong>Khamzat Chimaev<\/strong> at <strong>UFC 294<\/strong>, a short-notice middleweight clash that ended with a majority decision loss.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Usman is now preparing for a major fight against <strong>Jack Della Maddalena<\/strong> at <strong>UFC 312<\/strong>, aiming to reclaim his position in the welterweight rankings.<\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Will the Octagon Be the Final Chapter?<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Despite Ian Garry\u2019s recent loss to <strong>Shavkat Rakhmonov<\/strong> at <strong>UFC 310<\/strong>, the tension between &#8220;The Future&#8221; and &#8220;The Nigerian Nightmare&#8221; could set the stage for a major showdown in the future.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Will we witness a decisive battle between Garry and Usman?<\/strong><br \/>\nThe question remains open, but it\u2019s clear that a clash between them would be one of the most exciting matchups in <strong>UFC welterweight history<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;The Future&#8221; sparks controversy with &#8220;The Nigerian Nightmare&#8221;: A heated verbal clash arises between rising star Ian Garry and former champion Kamaru Usman, with accusations and criticisms over a refused fight. Respect Turned into Hostility The UFC welterweight division is witnessing intense tension after Ian Garry, ranked seventh worldwide, accused Kamaru Usman, ranked third and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,21],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5073","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"category-ufc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5073"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5073"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5073\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5075,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5073\/revisions\/5075"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}