Ian Garry stirs controversy with UFC 292 opponent's mugshot on his T-shirt, fighter vows to put the Irishman in his place
Irish welterweight Ian Garry stirred up a bit of controversy leading up to his fight at UFC 292.
Garry is set to face Geoff Neal on the main card of the August 19 event, which will be headlined by bantamweight title fight between champion Aljamain Sterling and Sean O'Malley.
Garry, who goes by the moniker 'The Future', recently posted a picture of himself at UFC 290 wearing a T-shirt featuring a mugshot of his American opponent. Below the photo, printed on the shirt is the Irishman's octagon nickname.
Geoff Neal was arrested in 2021 on DUI charges. In a post on Threads, the fighter's father reacted to the photo with the following:
"Turns out, Ian Garry is straight thrash. That's Geoff's mugshot on his shirt. Weirdo thought it would be cute to wear this shirt to UFC 290. He's so far back from the necessary fighters that no one gave a damn [about his shirt]. I hope like hell he stays healthy so he makes to the 19th [of August]. It's been a minute since somebody spoke out of place... ask [Belal Muhammad] and Mike Perry how that worked for them - Dad"
Ian Garry was wearing a t-shirt with Geoff Neal’s mugshot 👀 https://t.co/rbKajK4xSH
In an apparent text message exchange that saw Neal shown the image of Garry's controversial attire, 'Handz of Steel' vowed to make the Irishman pay:
"He's dead"
Ian Garry is going into UFC 292 with a 5-0 record
While names like Richie Smullen, James Gallagher and Kiefer Crosby have put Irish MMA on the map, none have had more success than Conor McGregor. 'The Notorious' was able to elevate the Irish mixed martial arts scene and carve out a niche for himself through his meteoric UFC career.
While McGregor was on his way to becoming the biggest MMA star in the world, a teenage Ian Garry was aspiring to become his country's next representative for the sport.
Garry started training boxing at age 10 and acquired his black belt in judo at age 18. 'The Future' made his professional debut at age 20 fighting for the UK's biggest promotion, Cage Warriors.
Ian Garry's UFC debut:
In June 2021, Garry won the Cage Warriors welterweight title and was signed to the UFC later that year in November. The undefeated fighter joined the promotion with a 7-0 record, and has since racked up five wins to take his overall MMA record to 12-0.
The UFC 290 fight against Geoff Neal will prove to be the biggest test of Ian Garry's professional career.