'He won by opinion' - Ian Machado Garry suffers first UFC defeat in Las Vegas

Ian Machado Garry suffered his first defeat after going the distance with the much-fancied Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310 on Saturday night in Las Vegas.

The welterweight prospect was the first fighter to take Shavkat Rakhmonov the distance in the octagon, however, Garry came out the wrong side of a close contest with his opponent taking the verdict by unanimous decision, 48-47, 48-47, 48-47.

Rakhmonov improved to 19-0, while Dubliner Garry fell to 15-1. Rakhmonov is now scheduled to face welterweight champion Belal Muhammad in his next fight.

"In victory and in defeat, I'm still the same person," said Garry, speaking at the post-fight press conference. "I am humble in victory and defeat, I always have been.

"And I do not feel like I lost today. My hand might not have got raised, but I came out and I fought a giant, I came out and I fought the bogeyman. And I showed that he’s f****** human.

"I went out there on three weeks’ notice and I saved this event, I saved this card against the scariest man in the division, and I went out there and I stopped almost everything.

"There was at no point that he looked like he would finish the fight; I put him in two submissions, I took his back, I had fun.

"I showed that I can hang with the single best in the division, and I proved tonight, on short notice, that I can absolutely be a champion, and I can do it for five rounds and there is no holes in my game, there was nothing that man brought from me tonight…

"He won by opinion, and that is ok, I can live with that, and I am very happy with my performance tonight."

Muhammad, who was at the bout Saturday, was initially scheduled to fight Rakhmonov before Muhammad suffered a foot injury in the weeks leading upto the fight.

In the main event,