Ian Garry has explained how there isn't anyone in his new gym Sanford MMA who dominates sparring sessions, including top fighters like Kamaru Usman and Gilbert Burns.
The Irishman was signed to the UFC after becoming Cage Warriors welterweight champion last summer at the age of just 23, and moved across the pond after leaving Dublin's Team KF. His original gym had been run by former Conor McGregor teammates Tom King and Chris Fields, and former UFC star Cathal Pendred was also an active coach and member.
But he has said that the primary difference between training in Ireland, as McGregor does at SBG Ireland, and training in a top American gym is that the competition level is particularly high. He has shared mats with the likes of Burns, Usman as well as Bellator stars Jason Jackson and Logan Storley, and says nobody is a dominant figure in the gym.
McGregor trains at the Dublin HQ of SBG Ireland under coach John Kavanagh, and has some solid training partners, although he is the only major world champion currently involved. Peter Queally, Pedro Carvalho and Sinead Kavanagh have all had shots at titles around his weight class in Bellator but fallen narrowly short.
Speaking to Sherdog, Garry explained that major change by saying: "The guys I'm stepping onto the mats with here, they f***ing hand hidings out every day to everyone.
"And there's not a single person in this gym that wins every round, that wins every minute of sparring. It is f***ing tough and there's no ego in here in regards to where people are swinging at each other and f***ing going aggressive."
Garry's relationship with Team KF soured amid his meteoric rise to the top of the Cage Warriors welterweight division last year. It came to a head when they withdrew their support for him days out from his world title bout against Jack Grant, and he would soon leave for America.
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He is now settled in Florida, where he trains at Sanford MMA and recently married TV host Layla Anna-Lee just over a year after the pair first began dating. And he returns to the UFC octagon this weekend at UFC 273 following a successful debut last November, facing Darian Weeks in his new home state.
He knocked out Jordan Williams at UFC 268 last November within a round, and is hoping for a similarly quick victory this time around. "I have in my mind I want the first round knockout," he continued. "Obviously.
"Because the sooner I get out of it, the better it is for me in every single sense of the way, like health - everything about my body and also hype, right? The sooner I get in, sooner I get out, the more hype it is. It's like, 'I have only seen him fight two rounds.'"
