Ian Machado Garry is No. 2 in the updated UFC Meta Rankings at welterweight, sitting behind only Carlos Prates, and he is reportedly coming back sooner than a lot of people expected. MMA Sucka reported Tuesday that the Irishman could return to the Octagon before the end of 2026, and Bloody Elbow flagged a report that an announcement looks imminent. The same outlet ran a piece in which an MMA coach laid out how Garry can rebuild and work his way back to the championship picture.
That’s the news. My take is narrower. The date matters a lot less than the name across the cage, and the name should be Sean Brady.
Where the queue actually stands
The welterweight top five is crowded, and it’s crowded with people who are healthy at the same time, which almost never happens. Bloody Elbow counted six fighters at the top who are ready to go right now. Islam Makhachev holds the belt. Prates is the logical next challenger, and Bloody Elbow pegged Makhachev vs. Prates as a natural headliner for UFC 336, the first numbered card of 2027, which the promotion announced during the UFC Edmonton broadcast for Toronto on Jan. 30.
Behind that, Michael Morales (No. 3) has been linked to Shavkat Rakhmonov, and Bloody Elbow framed the winner as next in line for whoever leaves Toronto with the belt. Jack Della Maddalena, the former champion at No. 4, is uninjured and has Mike Malott calling his name after Malott starched Joaquin Buckley in Round 2 in Edmonton for his fifth straight win. That knockout bumped Malott three spots to No. 8 and dropped Buckley, now on a three-fight skid, four spots to No. 12.
So Garry isn’t jumping anybody. Makhachev beat him, and no amount of No. 2 ranking erases that. What Garry needs is a win that makes a rematch feel like a different fight.
Why Brady fits
Bloody Elbow’s Toronto blueprint put Garry opposite Brady, the No. 5 welterweight, and described Brady as predominantly a wrestler. The writer’s argument was that this is the matchup where “The Future” can correct what went wrong in his title fight. I agree with the logic, and I’d push it further. If you lose to the champion and your next fight is against a kickboxer who stands in front of you, you learn nothing and the matchmakers learn nothing. A five-round or three-round fight against a guy who wants to put you on the mat tells everyone, Garry included, whether the work between camps took.
This is the kind of adjustment I love watching for. It doesn’t show up in a highlight. It shows up in the first clinch against the fence, when you see whether he’s got his underhook before the level change comes, or whether he’s reaching for a whizzer after it’s already too late. Brady will give him those exchanges early and often. If Garry wins them, a Makhachev rematch has a real story. If he doesn’t, better to find out against No. 5 than in a second title fight.
The other options are thin. Belal Muhammad, who fought Garry in Doha on Nov. 22, 2025, said this week he’d like Kamaru Usman and would take Malott if Usman isn’t interested. Muhammad described a Malott matchup this way: “The fight definitely makes sense.” That’s a former champion sitting at No. 7 openly shopping elsewhere, so a Garry rematch isn’t on his menu. Malott is aiming higher at Della Maddalena. Morales is tied up with Rakhmonov. Brady is the one top-five name with no obvious dance partner and a style that actually tests the thing Garry has to prove.
The calendar question
Here’s where I’d pump the brakes a little. A return before the end of 2026 means a December slot, roughly two months out from today. Toronto on Jan. 30 is only a few weeks past that. If Brady is available for December, great, take it. If the only 2026 option is someone outside the top five, I’d rather Garry wait the extra weeks and land on the Toronto card next to Makhachev vs. Prates, where a win over Brady puts him one step from a rematch in front of the people deciding who gets it.
Fighting sooner feels like momentum. Fighting the right guy in the same building as the title fight is momentum. Rushing a return to beat an arbitrary year-end, then needing another win in the summer because the first one didn’t move anyone, would cost Garry more time than waiting until Jan. 30.
My pick, assuming it gets booked: Garry beats Brady, and he does it by keeping the fight standing long enough to make Brady’s shots look desperate by the third round. Then he spends the spring watching the Morales vs. Rakhmonov winner and the Toronto champion sort out who he’s chasing. The full UFC 336 lineup is still unannounced, so watch the December cards first. If Garry’s name isn’t on one by the time UFC 333 wraps in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 24, Toronto is the tell.
