Kamaru Usman “has a big chest and small balls”

Ian Machado Garry claims Kamaru Usman turned down a fight with him.

Machado Garry (18-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) was actively looking for a fight with Colby Covington before being booked for the UFC headlining match against Joaquin Buckley on ESPN 63 in Tampa on December 14th.

However, when Shavkat Rakhmonov lost his title fight to welterweight champion Belal Muhammad at Saturday’s UFC 310 event at T-Mobile Arena, Machado Garry stepped in and took on “Nomad” in a five-round co-main event .

According to Machado Garry, a possible fight with Usman (20-4 MMA, 15-3 UFC) was previously discussed.

“I’ve had many conversations in a row with UFC,” Machado told Garry on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “Originally the goal was to get a fight with Colby Covington. Here, too, it is no secret that he is running. Then they walked down the line and looked at Kamaru Usman. The words I heard from UFC were: “Kamaru Usman wants nothing to do with you” – as in, “He’ll just run with you.”

Rakhmonov initially demanded an interim title fight against Usman, who apparently could no longer keep up. However, Machado Garry doesn’t believe the former UFC welterweight champion was willing to fight him or Rakhmonov.

“Usman has a big chest and small balls,” Garry said. “He’s good-looking – he’s got a big chest. He plays the role. But where it counts between the legs, he is a small man. That’s my take on it. He and Colby, they’re older, they’ve been through the division, they’ve fought guys. Now they are at the end of their careers. You want to choose the stylistically better combination.

“I guarantee this: Usman will try to push for a fight with Jack Della Maddalena because he saw how easy it was for Gilbert Burns to take him down. If I was in Usman’s shoes, why would I want to fight the guy who’s long, lanky and hard to handle when I could fight the guy who I’ve seen two people in a row beat pretty easily ? /“

For more information on the card, check out MMA Junkie’s UFC 310 event hub.