Ian Garry is one of the most feared welterweights in the UFC. But in a candid conversation on the High Performance podcast, the Dublin-born star revealed a side of himself that might surprise those who expect UFC fighters to project nothing but toughness.
“I cry watching Disney films,” Garry said plainly. “I just like I am so in touch with my feminine side that I feel like I’m more masculine because of it.”
For Garry, emotional openness is not something he apologizes for. It is, in his view, the foundation of real masculinity.
The 28-year-old was asked directly about the rise of the manosphere and the notion that men should suppress emotion and impose themselves on the world. His response was immediate and pointed.
“A real man is a father, is a husband, is there for his wife and his kids,” he said. “A real man is someone who’s able to vocalize his emotion and frustration and talk to people even in the darkest of times.”
Garry also turned his attention to the troubling statistics around male mental health, noting that more men take their own lives than women. He linked that reality directly to a culture that tells men emotional expression is a sign of weakness.
“Why? Because I don’t feel like I can talk to you about the things I need to talk to you about because I’m not a real man,” he said, representing the toxic internal voice he pushes back against. “Community, friendship, love, and joy, I believe are pillars for every human on this planet and things that we all need.”
The athlete spoke at length about his wife Layla and young son Leo, crediting them as central to both his mental wellbeing and his performance inside the cage. He described Layla as his “earth angel” and admitted openly that when the politics of the sport frustrate him, it is his relationship with her that gets hit first, and that he has had to work to recognize and address that pattern.
“I don’t care what people think about me,” he said. “I love who I am and I’m constantly trying to be a better human, a better person, a better father, a better husband, and a better fighter every day of my life.”
For Garry, toughness and tenderness are not opposites. They are, it turns out, the same thing.
