Garry Was 'Trying To Shatter Shavkat's Teeth'

Today at 07:05 AM

Ian Garry hasn't quite gotten the finishing technique of a Machado yet, but he's on his way.

Ian Machado Garry is getting some elite jiu jitsu training and advice down in Brazil, but it wasn't quite enough to earn him a submission win over Shavkat Rakhmonov in their five round contender's match at UFC 310.

While Garry nearly tapped Rakhmonov in the 5th round, it was Shavkat who got his hand raised with 48-47 scores across the board. Even then, many fans left that fight with more respect for "The Future" than they came in with. The 27-year-old put up a good fight against one of the best at 170 ... and Garry believes if he'd just modified his technique a little he'd have left Las Vegas with the submission win.

"Me and Demian [Maia] spoke about it when I went to a seminar," Garry told Paul Browne regarding the key moment where he had Shavkat's back and was working a face crank. "Charles [Oliveira] and I went over a discussion about how instead of going palm to palm and pulling and cranking my elbow, if I grab my wrist or my gloves — which is allowed, to grab my own — I can really torque and then pull. So I tried this."

"Obviously, I was across the chin, not under the chin. That's essentially how tough someone is, if I can't break their face. I have no problem with shattering all of Shavkat's teeth in that fight, if I can. And trust me, I was trying."

Unfortunately, Garry couldn't pull off a Khamzat special.

"But what I did was, once I got it across, I was trying to go to the rear naked choke and I found that the lock between the glove and my hand in that position just wasn't correct. And it was my head position, because I ended up start bringing my head on top of his head instead of ear to ear. So that was basically essentially what we came up with, and it's frustrating to think that all I had to do was put my head here and I choke him."

Brazilian jiu jitsu is one of those martial arts where the smallest detail can make the difference between an effective submission and a whole lot of nothing. Garry may not have gotten the tap on this one, but with guys like Demian Maia and Charles Oliveira on his team, we wouldn't be surprised if he lands the submission in his next bout.