Ian Garry is not what you might expect from a man on the verge of a UFC world title match. The undefeated welterweight contender, preparing to challenge pound-for-pound number one Islam Makhachev, speaks openly about emotion, love, and his belief that the world would function better if women were in charge of it.
“If the world was run by women, we’d all live in a better world,” Garry said in a recent interview on the High Performance podcast. “It would all be simpler and easier. That’s the fact of the matter whether you want to agree with it or not. If women ruled the world and we just listened to them and let them take over, it would be an easier world.”
The comment came during a conversation about his wife Layla, whom he describes as his “earth angel” and the person he turns to above all others for guidance.
“Any smart man in the world should look at his wife and know that that’s the person I need to listen to,” he said.
This connects directly to how Garry views masculinity and what he believes men get wrong about it. He is openly critical of the performative version of manhood that has taken hold in certain corners of culture, and he does not see strength and emotional openness as opposites.
“A real man is someone who is able to vocalize his emotion and frustration and talk to people even in the darkest of times,” he said. “Because we should have people that we can talk to.” He went further: “The reason I think men think they need to be strong and masculine is because it’s a warped idea of what masculinity needs to be.”
Garry, 28, cries watching Disney films, brings his nearly four-year-old son Leo to his matches, and credits Layla’s belief in him as something that surpasses even his own.
“She is my biggest believer,” he said. “Sometimes more so than I am. Like way more than I am. She is like, ‘You are better than you think you are.'”
His relationship with her is also, he argues, a genuine performance factor. “The 1% for me are nutrition, recovery, sleep, joy, laughter, friendship,” he said. “Everything you do affects your life.”
