UFC Rumors: Ian Garry Rejected as Dana White’s Alleged Offer Turned Down by Rising UFC Prospect

#11 ranked UFC welterweight Joaquin Buckley has revealed his plans for the near future. Before his Fight Night clash against Nursulton Ruziboev last week, which he won via unanimous decision, ‘New Mansa’ had spoken about wanting to fight Ian Garry.

However, the St. Louis native revealed that he has turned down an offer to fight Ian Garry on the main card at UFC 303. And despite his earlier enthusiasm to face the #7 ranked welterweight, the 30-year-old has listed a bevy of reasons as to why he has changed his mind.

Joaquin Buckley has bigger fish to fry than Ian Garry

In a recent interview Buckley stated that, having fought twice this year already, he was coming off two almost consecutive training camps. And because of this, he did not feel comfortable fighting Garry on June 28 on UFC 303.

Garry had been angling to fight #4 ranked Colby Covington, but ‘Chaos’, after going back and forth with the undefeated Irishman on social media, has indicated he is not interested in fighting Garry. In addition, he claimed that he had been offered another fight with a bigger, more exciting name than the Irishman.

“I definitely denied [a fight against Ian Garry]… The time. The time wise. I just did two back-to-back fights. I was good. I was like, ‘Let me chill out for a minute’… But I got another offer… It’s a bigger fight as well. And a bigger name, in my opinion, than Ian Garry. That fight [with Garry] doesn’t do anything for me… When you talk about his style of fighting, he’s not fun to watch,” he said.

Buckley continued undermining Garry, essentially calling him boring, and felt that a win over him would not move the needle much for him in the top-heavy welterweight division.

“He’s not exciting, and the way that he promotes his fights as well is kind of lame to me… He doesn’t do anything for me when it comes to actually moving towards that title. But the person I’m finna fight next definitely will,” he added.

While Buckley did not outright say who the other fighter offered to him by the UFC was, it is most probably the #6 ranked welterweight Gilbert Burns. After Dana White outright denied the possibility of a McGregor-Buckley bout, Buckley told the press he wanted to fight Burns. And the latter has accepted the challenge, saying if the UFC offered him a fight with Buckley, he would definitely accept. In addition, ‘Durinho’ is also a bigger name than Garry and commands the respect of the UFC fanbase. Right now, however, Buckley is busy feuding with Daniel Cormier.

Buckley feuding with ‘DC’ after Conor McGregor call-out

‘New Mansa’, after his disastrous call-out of Conor McGregor following his victory over Nursulton Ruziboev earlier this month, has gotten involved in a feud with commentator and former double champion Daniel Cormier. On his show on ESPN MMA YouTube, ‘DC’ had agreed with the wide-spread fan sentiment that Buckley’s call-out of McGregor, during which he insulted the Irishman’s mother, was the worst call-out of all time.

The Missouri native did not take kindly to this. He tweeted a caustic response, expressing his displeasure in strong terms and calling ‘DC’ and co-host Chael Sonnen cowards. Cormier responded in kind and told the Missouri native he should be happy that he was being talked about by the MMA world. While their feud seems over for now as Buckley has not issued a response on social media, it would be interesting to see what happens when the two men come face-to-face, as they inevitably will at a UFC event in the near future.