Much like his senior Irish counterpart, Conor McGregor, Ian Garry wants to achieve the fabled dream of becoming a two-division concurrent UFC champion. Speaking to journalist Ariel Helwani ahead of his virtual welterweight title eliminator clash against Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310 this weekend, ‘The Future’ made some bold claims. After possibly defeating ‘Nomad’ and then winning the 170-pound title, Garry claimed, he plans on moving up to middleweight to Khamzat Chimaev and eventually win the title.

“I’ve said to you before how my ideal scenario is: I fight, I beat Shavkat Rakhmonov, I win the world title, I go to middleweight, and I fight Khamzat Chimaev. I win that belt too. I’m not afraid of any man. I know how talented I am. I know the gifts God gave me. I want to go out there and prove it against what people believe to be the best people in the world that’s what I’m here for.”, ‘The Future’ said to the veteran journalist.

However, this call-out has predictably not gone down well with ‘Borz’, who took to social media to warn the undefeated Irishman against provoking him, lest he finds out the dire consequences of doing so. Taking to his X (formerly Twitter) account, Khamzat Chimaev directed the following words to the Irishman, “You’re too skinny, kid. Don’t go near the wolf’s teeth, you’ll end up headless.”, with a smiling emoji so cold, it would make the Arctic circle shy.

“@ianagaryy You’re too skinny kid, don’t go near the Wolf’s teeth, you’ll end up headless 😁,” Chimaev wrote in his native Russian.

The call-out has been done, and this matchup is a possibility in the future, for ‘The Future’. There’s no backing down now, lest he be further thrashed by fans and the MMA community who already have trolled Ian Garry on past occasions. However, Machado Garry needs to address the task at hand, and there’s a long road ahead.

Ian Garry’s long and winding potential road to a Khamzat Chimaev clash

Ian Garry, of course, is gearing up for the biggest, perhaps most challenging fight of his career so far. He will face fellow undefeated welterweight Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310 this weekend to determine who gets to fight champ Belal Muhammad for the 170-pound title next. And what a matchup it is for ‘The Future’.

After all, Shavkat Rakhmonov is the current boogeyman of the division, having finished every opponent he faced in his pro-MMA career so far. ‘Nomad’, after all, brings a remarkably well-rounded game to the table, with his relentless, heavy-pressure fighting style proving too much for all his past opponents. On paper, Garry will have a slight edge on the feet, but ‘Nomad’ is by far the better grappler and wrestler.

While most expect ‘Nomad’ to take Garry’s ‘O’, the Irishman is not to be written off. However, even if he does beat Rakhmonov this weekend, there is still a long way for him to go before a Khamzat Chimaev clash is even on the table. After all, ‘The Future’ will then have to face Belal Muhammad (assuming he’s still champion by the time Garry gets to him) and his world-class wrestling, which will be another uphill task for him.

Then and only then can he even think in his dreams about moving up and fighting ‘Borz’. Of course, all this is assuming Dana White and Co. agree to have the Irishman move up straight away after winning the welterweight title, which they are pretty unlikely to do. But hey, it can’t hurt to call out Chimaev and talk about becoming a two-division champ. All publicity, as they say, is good publicity, especially before a big fight like the Rakhmonov clash. What do you think about Khamzat Chimaev’s response to Ian Garry’s call out?