Ian Machado Garry and Joaquin Buckley will face off in the final fight of 2024 for the UFC. The promotion announced Saturday that Garry and Buckley will headline UFC Tampa, which will take place on December 14 at Amalie Arena, Tampa. Both Garry and Buckley expressed interest in facing Shavkat Rakhmonov in the main event of UFC 310 after Belal Muhammad withdrew due to a toe infection, but instead, UFC matchmakers decided to pair the 170-pound contenders.

The matchup truly represents an opportunity for welterweights to continue proving their worth in the division. But it truly is a golden opportunity for Ian Garry, who cannot wait to grab the chance. Although he wished to get a direct shot at Rakhmonov, as he revealed in a video on X, “There’s some big names; there’s some cool matchups. Shavkat, 18-0 undefeated, I’d love to get my hands on him.” This fight against Buckley too offers their perks. So what are they? Let’s find out!

Ian Garry now gained the UFC’s trust by becoming the headliner for Fight Night

In his entire run as an MMA fighter, the 26-year-old Irishman has never been a main-event fighter for the UFC. Being a main event fighter not only brings you more monetary benefits with a bigger fight purse, but it also gives you much bigger exposure with fans and gets you quicker to a title picture. Dana White is a businessman who truly knows that fans love watching a fan favorite like Conor McGregor and Sean O’Malley fight for the title.

So being in the main event spotlight surely allows Ian Machado Garry to earn his rank among the top stars in the promotion. By agreeing to be a last-minute fill-up for the upcoming UFC Fight Night, Dana White and co. are now aware of the fact that if there is a main-event card to be rescued, Garry is surely someone they can rely on. This is very similar to the faith the top MMA promotion has in light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, who is known for stepping up last minute and still winning the fight.

The fight will gain Garry an entry into the top 5 welterweight

Ian Machado Garry is truly a great fighter to watch. The Irishman boats an impressive record of 15-0-0 in mixed martial arts. And if this record doesn’t prove his might, the fact that more than half of his wins came during his UFC career proves that he truly is an elite fighter who can surely go one-on-one with the very best fighters in the world. The 26-year-old Irishman is 2-0 so far in 2024 with decision wins over Geoff Neal at UFC 298 and Michael “Venom” Web page at UFC 303, so he truly is a name that has been in the minds of fans as a top-tier fighter.

However, despite the records and fights, he is currently ranked seventh in the division. But things will surely change if he manages to win his fight against a fighter such as Joaquin Buckley. The two were expected to fight long before this upcoming matchup came to fruition, as when ‘New Mansa moved to Welterweight, he asked Ian Garry for a fight. However, the Irishman declined the opportunity as he claimed that only fighting someone rated higher than him interests him, and Buckley does not have that to give him.

But now that ‘New Mansa’ is ranked #9 and is close to Garry with an MMA record of 20-6, it surely has made this an interesting fight. Buckley has won five straight fights since moving down from middleweight to welterweight less than two years ago. The 30-year-old is 3-0 this year and is coming off a high-profile knockout of Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson at UFC 307 in October. So defeating a fighter of such caliber would surely bring the 26-year-old Irishman into the top-5 spot of his division.

The next destination will be a number-one contender fight.

Ian Garry Machado is eager to get into the title picture. And much more than that, he is desperate to fight against Shavkat Rakhmonov to become the first fighter to ever defeat the Kazakh fighter. He even said in an interview, “I have nothing but respect for the dude; it’s purely out of I don’t want anyone else to beat him before me. He’s 18-0. I’m 15-0. Let’s go out there and put on show and see who’s really better.” 

However, both of these feats cannot come to fruition until and unless he gets the title of being the #1 contender. With him being #7 in the division, it seems like a long shot to get a #1 contender match. However, if Machado manages to win against Joaquin Buckley, he surely will be getting into the title picture. With a jump to the top five being almost guaranteed with a win at Fight Night, Ian Garry Machado would most likely get a fight for being the #1 contender considering he would have a 16-0 MMA record and his last fight being a last-minute clash, that too as a main event.

As a result, he would get his dream bout against the Kazakh fighter, with the stakes being much higher since the winner would then get to face the champion, Belal Muhammad. So it surely looks like the upcoming Fight Night main event holds more significance for the Irishman than it looked like at first glance.

What do you think? Will Ian Garry Machado be able to win his fight against Joaquin Buckley? Let us know in the comments.