Ian Machado Garry couldn’t resist saying his piece after Sean Strickland shared his thoughts on the trash-talking culture in MMA.
Both Garry (13-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) and Strickland (28-5 MMA, 15-5 UFC) have dished out their disses and have also been on the receiving end plenty of times.
Last month, at the 2024 UFC seasonal press conference in Las Vegas, Strickland went after Garry for turning off his Instagram comments amid fan backlash of his marriage, and called him out for trash-talking fellow fighters while not dealing well with criticism when thrown his way. Moments later, at that same press conference, Strickland’s rival Dricus Du Plessis brought up his abusive childhood, which didn’t sit well with Strickland and prompted a brawl between the two days later at UFC 296.
“There’s some things that are off limits,” Strickland told comedian Theo Von on the “This Past Weekend” podcast. “You don’t really talk about a man’s wife, you don’t talk about a man’s kids, and you don’t about a kid being abused. These things are all off limits.
“Once (Du Plessis) crossed that, I tried to f*cking ignore it. I was boiling. Whenever Dricus goes on there, and he jokes about that sh*t, dude, you have no idea. I’ll f*cking kill you. You have no idea. I think the issue is too, when you’re a kid, and you’re made to be a victim your whole life, as an adult, you’re like, ‘Never again. I’ll f*cking kill you.”
Now, with Strickland saying Du Plessis went too far, Garry went after him for his original comments at the press conference directed at his handling of his recent backlash.
“How the tables have turned,” Garry commented on an Instagram post by MMA Fighting. “You dish it out in the lowest, most vile manner, but can’t take a pinch. You attacked my wife incessantly and obsessively, calling her a (pedophile).
“It’s clear to see your childhood trauma showing. You claimed you were ‘giving me advice’ before, well now it’s my turn to return the favor: You should shut your mouth and focus on the mirror because you have enough serious issues you need to solve. I wish you all the best with them. Don’t ever project your pain onto me and my family again.”
Strickland puts his middleweight title on the line against Du Plessis (20-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC) at UFC 297 on Jan. 20 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Garry, meanwhile, is slated to return to action against Geoff Neal (15-5 MMA, 7-3 UFC) at UFC 298 on Feb. 17 at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
