Replacing Belal Muhammad and agreeing to fight Shavkat Rakhmnonov on short notice has garnered a lot of praise for Ian Machado Garry. He was pretty confident in the matchup, and breaking the Kazakh fighter’s undefeated record greatly excited the Irishman. Defeating ‘Nomad’ would indeed push him to the spot of the next contender to get a shot at the welterweight title. Such is Garry’s confidence in winning at UFC 310 that the Irish mixed martial artist seems to have plans ready for his title fight. He has Khabib Nurmagomedov’s team in his crosshairs, and his target is more than just Belal Muhammad.

Days removed from the showdown between Garry and Rakhmonov at the co-main event of UFC 310, the 27-year-old fighter appeared in an interview with Shakiel Mahjouri. During their conversation, Mahjouri pointed out that ‘Remember The Name’ had already resumed his training, preparing to defend his championship title. He asked Garry about the perfect scenario for a fight between him and Muhammad. 

Well, International Fight Week was the ideal time to fight the Palestinian champ, according to Garry. He said, “I think International Fight Week 2025. I think he’s gonna obviously have Ramadan, so that will put him out till the end of March.” The Irishman was considerate of Muhammad’s faith and claimed that he would love to fight the champ after his body had its rest.

And that would be the time when Islam Makhachev would probably go up against Charles Oliveira one more time.  Ian Garry continued, “International Fight Week 2025. Me vs. Belal. Charles vs. Islam. Boom baby! Chute Boxe vs Team Khabib. Let’s go. That’s what we want, that’s what we need.”

Muhammad fought Gilbert Burns during Ramadan last year. But as a champion, he might not take that risk. As for Islam, he is slated to take on Arman Tsarukyan in January 2025, winning which fight, he should be free for International Fight Week.

The question that remained was- Will Dana White let Garry fight for the WW belt at International Fight Week 2025? Only time can tell that.

UFC 310 initially pitted Belal Muhammad against Rakhmonov in the main event. However, the welterweight champion contracted a bone infection and had to pull out of the bout. But that didn’t stop him from getting excited about the fight between Garry and Rakhmonov.

Belal Muhammad eyes Ian Garry and Shavkat Rakhmonov as UFC 310 approaches

Taking to social media, ‘Bully B’ weighed in on a matchup between him and the winner of UFC 310 co-main event. Despite having a 100% finish rate, Shavkat Rakhmonov failed to intimidate Muhammad. And neither did Garry with his powerful strikes. Muhammad tweeted, “These last six weeks I’ve been watching a lot of tapes and studying both these guys and my official unbiased breakdown is that I break both of them.”

UFC 310 would decide who would get the chance to fight the welterweight champion. In a conversation with Jon Anik and Kenny Florian on their talk show, ‘Remember The Name’ claimed that making Garry and ‘Nomad’ fight was the only way to move the division forward. Garry was initially slated to fight Joaquin Buckley. But Muhammad wasn’t in support of that. He said, “I think the matchup makes a lot of sense especially when you’re looking at the division. It made more sense than Buckley and Ian Garry. I think Shavkat and Ian Garry, both undefeated, both guys are right there at the top and they both called each other out before. Ian said he wanted that fight before, but it makes a lot of sense and I’m excited to see how it goes.”

Now, with the Irishman trying to target Muhammad for a mega event in 2025, things have indeed started to become interesting for the welterweight division. But first, he has to claim a victory over Rakhmonov, come UFC 310.

Do you think Garry would get his wish fulfilled and fight Muhammad at International Fight Week? Drop down to the comments below and let your thoughts flow.