Daniel Cormier understands the decision Leon Edwards’ team made to no longer welcome Ian Machado Garry to their gym.
Garry faces Kill Cliff teammate Vicente Luque at UFC 296 on Dec. 16, which had him recently move his training around. The past few weeks were spent at Team Renegade, home of UFC welterweight champion Edwards. But according to Garry, Edwards and his team asked him not to train there, a move he dubbed as weak-minded.
Having trained on the same mats as Cain Velasquez, Cormier eventually dropped down to light heavyweight to avoid having to fight him. With Garry (13-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) showing no reluctance in facing teammate Luque (22-9-1 MMA, 15-5 UFC), Cormier sees why Edwards and his team don’t want him back.
“Where I agree with Leon Edwards is this: Ian Garry is a tremendous young talent,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “He’s a guy that looks like a future world champion, but he is also a guy that does not have a problem fighting a teammate. … Ian Garry’s fighting Vicente Luque. Those guys shared the mats at Kill Cliff, one of his actual teams, for years. The moment they were given the opportunity to fight, they took it.
“I think that may be part of the reason Leon Edwards is going, ‘I don’t know if I want this guy in my gym, learning my skill set, learning what we do as a team, knowing that if he finds himself in a position that he gets an opportunity to fight for the belt, Ian Garry’s not going to say no.’ And guess what? I can’t blame him, because he does not have those ties to the team.”
Cormier agrees with Edwards, but also can’t fault Garry for pursuing his championship goal.
“I don’t think Leon is wrong,” Cormier said. “Past behaviors are what determines how you operate around someone, and in Ian’s past behaviors, it tells me that if he gets an opportunity, he won’t turn it down. And I don’t think he has to turn it down.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 296.
