Ian Garry insists that he is tuning out the noise of some of his harsher critics after moving to 9-0 with his win over Darian Weeks at UFC 273.
The Irish prospect landed another dominant victory in his sophomore outing with the top MMA promotion, beating the gritty American Weeks. But some fans were unimpressed with his inability to land a finish, after watching the likes of himself and Paddy Pimblett earn first round stoppages in their early promotional bouts.
He has graded his own performance an "A" after thoroughly out-striking Weeks before showing his impressive takedown defence over the 15-minute contest. And speaking with Mirror Fighting , he has promised that he won't be affected by negative feedback on social media.
"I don't give a s*** what other people say," he declared. "I dominated from the first second to the last, I left victorious, I'm 9-0, now I go into my next fight where I'll go 10-0, I'm 24-years-old and I won't be caring what they say because I am loving my life.
"It was an 'A' because for someone this young in the sport, remember I only started MMA just under five years ago. I'm in the UFC fighting on my second pay-per-view, the featured prelim, the atmosphere was electric and I go in there and piece the mouth off someone for 15 minutes.
"He was a game fighter, respect to Darian, he was game. He didn't do as much as I thought he was going to do, but I didn't really let him do anything because I was in control of that fight.
"Whatever people want to say, let them say it because again, you can't take away from what's in here, I know how good I am, I know what I did and I'm happy with the results. I'm going to chill out, get my head down, recover, relax and get back to training so I can be back in that cage soon.
"People can have mixed reactions, let them say what they want because nobody is going to have any opinion that can faze me. I'm going to be sat there with the belt wrapped around my waist in a few years still undefeated, still looking this handsome and all I do for a living is beat the s*** out of people, no-one will be able argue with that."
Garry has had a whirlwind year. He won the Cage Warriors welterweight title in June minus his long-time training team, and was signed to the UFC within hours. After making a stunning debut at Madison Square Garden in New York, Garry was moved to the top of the prelims for his sophomore outing in Florida earlier this month.
And it's not just his life in the cage that has changed dramatically. His whirlwind romance with wife Layla Anna-Lee saw the pair married in a Vegas ceremony in March. And after his win over Weeks, with his family present for the first time in his UFC career, he confirmed that they are to welcome their first child later this year.
"I had news to tell them all and I wanted to tell them all personally," Garry said of his family being at the fight. Due to travel restrictions stemming from the coronavirus, they were unable to attend his debut or any of his final fights in Cage Warriors.
"It was awesome to be able to share a lot of good news, I saw a lot of smiles and to win my fight at the end of the day, it was all a recipe for joy."
Garry is now eyeing up a return to the cage in the summer, particularly focusing on International Fight Week in Las Vegas at the end of June. He has no opponent in mind as yet, but is happy to continue at his current pace with the promotion as opposed to rushing into big name fights right away.
"I'm in no rush to be near title contention," he explained. "I want to develop my game and my skillset in every way shape and form so that when I'm there I can dominate everywhere... Inevitably I will be the UFC champion, no matter how long or short that is, I'm going to get there. And when I'm there, ain't nobody taking me off that throne."
Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts
