Conor McGregor responds to a throwback photo of him and a young Ian Garry ahead of 'The Future' making his UFC debut
![Ian Garry (left) and Conor McGregor (right) [Left Image Courtesy: @iangarry on Instagram]](https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2021/09/c7133-16311624824122-800.jpg?w=500)
A circulating throwback photo of Conor McGregor and a young Ian Garry seems to have put the former two-division UFC champion in a positive mood.
The UFC megastar reacted to seeing the photo by heaping praise on his fellow Dublin native. MMA journalist Sean Sheehan posted the image after Garry spoke about meeting McGregor on the latest episode of Ariel Helwani's The MMA Hour. 'The Notorious' then retweeted the post with the caption:
"Ian that is just tremendous! Very, very cool! We would have to be in Louis Copeland getting fresh shirts ahahah Excellent! Good luck young brother"
The viral photo was taken when Ian Garry was working at luxury fashion shop Louis Copeland, and Conor McGregor walked in as a customer. Now that Garry is months away from becoming a UFC fighter himself, McGregor told him they should return to the store to shop for new shirts together.
Ian Garry says Conor McGregor inspired him to pursue an MMA career
Ian Garry has been following in Conor McGregor's footsteps, dominating English promotion Cage Warriors before making his way into the UFC. That did not happen by complete coincidence, as Garry revealed McGregor's rise to success was what got him into MMA in the first place. The young Irishman said:
"Conor changed the game in MMA. He brought so many eyes to the sport. If I can do something similar, then that's a win. He was the reason I'm in MMA, you know what I mean? His rise was the reason why MMA got huge in Dublin, in Ireland. He's the reason I walked into an MMA gym and if I can bring eyes to the UFC and I can put people in gyms because they wanna be like me or they wanna do it because they see me enjoy it and put on a show, then amazing. That's a win."
The former Cage Warriors welterweight champion will make his octagon debut at UFC 268 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. He will try to keep his undefeated record unblemished as he takes on fellow prospect Jordan Williams.
Watch Ian Garry talk about Conor McGregor on The MMA Hour: