Ian Machado Garry believes he deserves the win against Michael Page at UFC 303.
Gary (15-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) defeated Page (22-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) by unanimous decision last Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, winning the first and third rounds as scored by all three judges.
Garry nearly won the first round with a rear-naked choke, but Page fought back and landed more powerful strikes in the second round. The third round was closely fought, with Page dominating the early going before Garry regained the momentum and closed out the bout strongly.
“I was furious. I was really furious,” Garry said of his performance on The MMA Hour. “It should have happened in the first round. There should have been no second or third round. It should have been, 'Ian Machado, Garry hits him from behind and knocks him unconscious.'”
“That's how it should have been. I'm losing sleep over it now, my mind is on fire. But that's just my competitive side. As a perfectionist, I'm like, 'That match should have ended here.'”
UFC CEO Dana White ruled the fight a draw, but Garry strongly disagrees with those who claim he didn't deserve the fight.
“You're kidding,” Gary said. “Watch the fight again. I won the first round. The thing is, I win all three rounds, which is more convincing than it being a draw. That's the way I see it. Round one was a landslide. No one can argue with that. Round three was clearly my victory.
“Somehow I ended up on the bottom. We traded some weird punches and I ended up on the bottom. I used some tight, dirty elbows from the bottom. I did the damage when I got off his back. I thought, 'OK, I'm going to get up,' so I took him down and got his back and punched him back a little bit. It wasn't a lot of damage, but it didn't affect MVP at all.”
For more on the card, check out MMA Junkie's UFC 303 event hub.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie
