Ian Machado Garry has threatened to ‘thump the mouth off Sean Strickland’ for calling his wife a ‘paedophile’ among other insults.
Machado Garry is back in action this weekend against Geoff Neal at UFC 298 in his first appearance since suffering months of online taunts and abuse, much of which has been targeted at his family.
The Irishman, 26, and his wife Layla, 40, had their relationship put under the spotlight after it emerged she had previously written a short satirical book called ‘How to be a WAG’ more than 10 years ago.
Layla laughed off the 11-page book – hitting back at those calling her a ‘gold digger’ – and the TV presenter said: ‘That satirical book, if you listen to it, is really silly and anybody who takes it as fact has completely missed the mark.’
But that didn’t stop a number of trolls directing abuse at the couple, including some fellow MMA fighters.
Ian Machado Garry, pictured with wife Layla and their son, hit back at his abusers
The Irishman remains undefeated and takes on Geoff Neal at UFC 298 this Saturday
Layla’s satirical book re-surfaced on social media last year, leading to an online backlash
At UFC 298’s media day, Machado Garry said: ‘Listen, we can shoot shots at each other all day long, me and another bloke, but here’s the two things I’ll point out — my wife was called a paedophile by Sean Strickland.
‘No woman ever deserves to be called that. My son, the people that follow Sean Strickland, commented on a couple of my photos at the start of all this saying, “Is the kid even his?” I should never have to hear that. Those two things, they emotionally get me.
‘I’ll get mine back. I’ll thump the f***ing mouth off Sean Strickland one day, and there will be nothing he can do about it.
‘I’ll talk to him, I’ll dance in his face, I’ll do whatever I want, because the truth is when we get locked into that cage one day, he’s never going to be able to deal with me.’
Machado Garry continued: ‘Look, Sean Strickland is not the f***ing voice we should be listening to. He’s deeply, deeply indebted with trauma, and he should just be silent and try to deal with his own personal issues himself, and that’s where it mainly came from.
‘For sure, there’s no f***ing man on the planet that talks about my wife or my family like that and doesn’t get it eventually. The truth is, he’s never going to be relevant again. He’s lost the belt. He’s lost the interest.
‘There’s a point at which I’ll jump in on a short-notice fight, and I’ll dance all over him. I’m far too quick. I’m far too talented, and he’ll just be missing.’
Strickland previously said: ‘Guys, I never talk about anybody’s spouses, but this s**t ain’t right. It ain’t f***ing right. I got to talk about it.
Machado Garry has had his wife by his side for his entire run in the UFC so far
UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland went as far as to call Layla a ‘sexual predator’ in trolling that Machado Garry says the American will be punished for
Machado Garry has come through every test so far and saw off Neil Magny in style
‘Ian Garry, I remember when I met you dude, it was in New York… I remember thinking to myself, there ain’t something right about that girl.
‘Now I’m finding out you’re 26, she’s f***ing 40. The ex f***ing husband lives with you, you took the last name.
‘Mother****** she wrote a book on how to be a WAG, I didn’t know what a WAG was until now dude. This **** ain’t right dude, she’s a succubus. You got to run away bro.’
Rumours were also circulating online that suggested that Richard Cullen, Layla’s first husband who is understood to have been part of Garry’s team since 2021 as a nutritionist, still lived with the couple.
However, Layla also addressed and quickly debunked it.
‘Some bulls*** things that people have been saying [is] that my ex-husband lives with us,’ she said. ‘No he doesn’t! And no he never has. You’re just making that up.’
Another fighter who taunted Machado Garry was Colby Covington, a fellow welterweight who the Irishman wants to fight next if he gets past Neal.
He went on: ‘I want to beat Geoff Neal in spectacular fashion this weekend, then I’m going to fight Colby Covington, and I’m going to retire him, and I’m going to rid the clown from the UFC.
‘Then I’ll take someone [ranked] three, two or one in the world, I’ll beat them, and I’ll earn my title shot next year.’
Garry says he’ll fight Colby Covington (left) and send him into retirement and Strickland (right) is also on his hit list
‘I think [Colby] has no other choice. When I beat Geoff Neal on Saturday, there’s only one choice, and it’s what I say.’
Of verbal sparring before events, Machado Garry says it should just involve the fighters and never bring family into it.
‘There’s a line,’ he explained. ‘There’s a line on what you say and what you do, and it’s not trash to call my wife a paedophile, or say my kid isn’t even mine. That’s not trash talk. That’s abuse. That’s horrible, and no person on the planet deserves that.
‘I feel like we’ve seen it recently, and the two main culprits are f***ing Colby and Sean Strickland. Colby bringing up Leon [Edwards’] dad and Sean just being negative toward every single person possible. It shows a very dark age in MMA. This is not what the sport’s about.’