Ian Machado Garry has the Chael Sonnen seal of approval.
This Saturday, Garry challenges Islam Makhachev for the welterweight title in the main event of UFC 330. Heading into the fight, much has been made of Garry’s recent comments about women ruling the world, with several prominent MMA figures ripping him and huge swaths of the community sharing that displeasure. But Chael Sonnen says he’s doing everything just write.
In a video posted to his YouTube channel titled “Ian Garry is the Perfect Bad Guy,” Sonnen argues that Garry has become one of the best villains in MMA right now.
“There is nothing more monitizable than a cool heel,” Sonnen said. “Stone Cold Steve Austin was a cool heel. The Rock was a cool heel. Kevin Nash was a cool heel. Why do I say that? Because Ian Garry is over, man. Ian Garry is over in a massive way. And yeah, a lot of it is with boos, and a lot of it is with a negative energy.
“Roddy Piper, rest his soul, gave my advice one time. … He came up to me, unsolicited, and said, ‘Hey, Chael, do not change anything. Eventually the crowd will love you for the very things they hate you for today. Don’t give in to them. When they’re telling you to change, they don’t really want it. The emotion that they get from booing you is stronger than the emotion that the ones that give love have. The desire to see somebody lose is stronger than the desire to see somebody win.’”
Sonnen, of course, has some experience in these matters. Sonnen rose to prominence in MMA on the back of his heel persona and his rivalry with Anderson Silva, playing the foil to the all-time great. And looking at Garry, Sonnen sees some of himself in “The Future.”
“The thing that was different, I genuinely didn’t mind the boos,” Sonnen said. “And the number one reason you don’t have bad guys in this sport is they can’t take the heat. They say they don’t care, but they do. They say, ‘As long as you bought a ticket, as long as you had an emotion, I’ve done my job.’ They care. They can’t handle the boos. And I could. But that’s also where I bring Ian Garry into it. …
“Ian Garry is a real funny one, because he’s never done anything wrong. … Now what, he’s a bad guy because he said something nice about women? Eh. I’d like to be there with you, I just can’t. We hate Ian because Ian stood by his wife? I’d like to be there with you, but I just can’t. And Ian’s ability to draw, even if it’s with boos, his ability to draw … Roddy Piper was right when he said, ‘You don’t need to change, they will. Give it time. They will change.’ …
“I feel that Ian Garry is closer to that vain. Ian Garry has struck something here. There’s something here. When there’s an Ian Garry interview, when there’s an Ian Garry press conference, something is happening. I can feel it the whole time I watch, something is going to happen.”
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While I agree with Chael in principle that Garry is a good heel for this moment in the sport, I think we have different definitions of what that means. People loved The Rock and Stone Cold. I have never met someone who loves Ian Machado Garry. So while he can rile the fan base, I don’t think he can engender adoration in the same way.
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