Ian Garry has been confirmed as the official back-up fighter for UFC 315 and he had a gift for Australian welterweight Jack Della Maddalena ahead of the biggest fight of his career.
Della Maddalena takes on champion Belal Muhammad for the title in Sunday’s main event, which takes place at Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.
The Australian has confidently declared he needs less than a round to dethrone the UFC’s current welterweight champion, although if Garry had his way Della Maddalena wouldn’t even make weight and he would be the one taking on Muhammad.
UFC 315: Muhammad vs Della Maddalena | SUN 11 MAY 12PM AEST | Australia’s Jack Della Maddalena challenges Belal Muhammad for the Welterweight Championship | Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports.
Speaking to FULL SEND MMA, Garry said it was his “dream” that Della Maddalena missed weight and even produced a packet of peanut M&M’s, which he learned were the Australian’s favourite.
And even if Della Maddalena didn’t fall for Garry’s mind games, the Irishman suggested he could even eat them after Sunday’s fight “and think of me”.
Garry called both Della Maddalena and Muhammad “phenomenal” fighters but added that he was “more interesting” and questioned why he wasn’t getting the shot at the champion.
Jack has been inactive, hasn’t had the best stretch of fights recently. He’s got one win over a current ranked opponent, that’s Gilbert. This should be all different,” Garry said.
“I believe I should be in there for the belt and that’s why I’m here.”
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Garry had previously expressed his frustration with the UFC’s decision to reward Della Maddalena with a title opportunity, going as far as to say he was “livid” with the snub.
But given he was coming off a loss to Shavkat Rakhmonov, Garry didn’t have much of an argument while Della Maddalena, even if inactive, had only been unavailable to fight due to injury and is undefeated in the UFC.
Speaking on Main Event’s ‘Fight Week’, former UFC middleweight champion Rob Whittaker backed his fellow countryman to join Alexander Volkanovski as Australia’s second current title holder.
“Belal really likes making things a dogfight. He likes getting in there, crowding you, using his hands to set up shots,” Whittaker said.
But I think Jack can just patiently control that mid-range, use his jab the way he does (and) make him uncomfortable with stinging him every time he moves forward or backwards. If he gets taken down, just get back up. We saw in that Burns fight he’s resilient.”
HOW TO WATCH
Australian fans can catch all the action for UFC 315 live on Main Event via Kayo or Foxtel.
Main Event on Kayo Sports and Foxtel is the exclusive home of UFC Pay-Per-View.
START TIME
The early prelims get underway at 8.30am AEST with the preliminary card at 10am and pay-per-view main card at 12pm, with Della Maddalena expected to fight for the title at around 2.30pm.
FULL UFC 315 CARD
Main card
Belal Muhammad vs. Jack Della Maddalena
Valentina Shevchenko vs. Manon Fiorot
Jose Aldo vs. Aiemann Zahabi
Alexa Grasso vs. Natalia Silva
Benoit Saint Denis vs. Kyle Prepolec
Prelims
Mike Malott vs. Charles Radtke
Jessica Andrade vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius
Modestas Bukauskas vs. Ion Cutelaba
Navajo Stirling vs. Ivan Erslan
Early Prelims
Marc-Andre Barriault vs. Bruno Silva
Daniel Santos vs. Jeong Yeong Lee
Brad Katona vs. Bekzat Almakhan
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