UFC star says he studied NFL WRs as he prepared for latest fight

Ian Machado Garry fights Geoff Neal during UFC 298 at Honda Center.

Undefeated UFC welterweight contender Ian Machado Garry (14-0) knew he was in for a tough test when he drew Geoff Neal (15-6) for last Saturday’s bout at UFC 298.

So in preparation for the hard-hitting striker, Garry decided the best way to make himself harder to hit was by watching film of a few of the NFL’s most elusive players to better prepare himself to evade Neal’s punches, he told “The MMA Hour” on Monday.

“I was studying a lot of NFL wide receivers — people like Ja’Marr Chase (Cincinnati Bengals) and Justin Jefferson (Minnesota Vikings),” Garry said. “The way they get off the line, and they throw off the corners, purely based on the ability of trying to trick the movement or trick the eyes into which direction you’re going to move and you’re going to go, and I used that a lot in this fight of, just switching really quickly to make them think I’m going to go right, then go left.”

Garry relied on a counter-striking-heavy attack and used plenty of movement to keep Neal at bay.

His gameplan seemed to have worked as he spent most of the fight circling away from Neal, not allowing his opponent to land many combinations or find any sort of striking rhythm. Garry out-landed Neal in both total strikes (80 to 57) and significant strikes (67 to 46), per UFC stats.

“I wanted to study [the WRs]…firstly, I respect any elite-level athlete,” Garry added. “And you watch these guys, they’re so fast offline, and they have the amazing ability to just cut on a dime and just turn in a different direction, and you see people just break ankles, and they get lost, and I feel like we see it with sports a lot, and I was watching them.”

While some said Garry’s gameplan was more about running away from Neal than strategically avoiding him, the 26-year-old Irishman won via split decision, taking 29-28 and 30-27 scorecards from two judges while the third scored the bout 30-27 for Neal.

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