Vicente Luque eager for “striking match” against Ian Machado Garry at UFC 296: “It will be the Fight Night”

Vicente Luque is confident he will derail the hype of Ian Machado Garry at UFC 296.

Luque returned to the win column back in August with a decision win over Rafael dos Anjos in a Fight Night main event. It was his first fight in a year, and after the win, Luque made it clear that he wanted to fight one more time in 2023.

“I was really excited and I had a long time between my last two fights, so it was a whole year and I worked on a lot of stuff I needed to develop,” Luque said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “My body was feeling great and I had a great win over RDA so it was important for me to get one more fight in this year. The timing is perfect, I get to close off the year by having a big fight on a big card.”

Luque ended up getting his wish as he was offered Ian Machado Garry at UFC 296. However, given the two are former teammates at Kill Cliff, the Brazilian says he had to check in with his coaches to make sure it was okay for him to take the fight.

After getting the all clear, although Henri Hooft won’t be cornering either of them, Luque jumped at the chance to face Garry.

“I wasn’t hesitant in terms of the fight, I really like the fight and think it’s super exciting. I have a great relationship with Ian, I have trained with him before. But, both of us don’t take it personally, we are great competitors and we will do what we need to do,” Luque said. “I had to talk to Henri (Hooft) and make sure he was comfortable with it as being part of Kill Cliff, I never wanted to bring drama or any kind of things that would be negative to the team. Henri was pretty cool about it, but he’s going to stay out of it. He’s just going to be neutral, he’s not going to corner either of us.”

Although the two have sparred with one another, Vicente Luque says he knows fighting in front of thousands of people is much different than the gym.

But, what excites Luque heading into the scrap is that he believes this should be a striking fight which is what he likes to do the best.

“We know his striking is amazing, I’ve felt that here training with him, he’s a very skilled and talented striker. But, I don’t think that is all he has,” Luque said. “He’s really dangerous everywhere, that’s kind of what I’m anticipating. I’m getting ready for a striking match as I know I have the tools and weapons to put him in danger. But, I’m making sure my wrestling and grappling are on point in case I need to use them or if he uses them against me.”

With Vicente Luque expecting him and Ian Machado Garry to mostly be a striking contest, the Brazilian believes the two can steal the show at UFC 296 and be the Fight of the Night.

“I think it is a lot of action. Our styles match up great, I’m a striker who walks forward, and he’s a guy who walks forward but is great at moving backward. We are going to be fighting three rounds, so that will set a high pace for this fight. If we go the three rounds it will be the Fight Night as both of us aren’t going to back down,” Luque said.

If Luque can get the win over Garry, he knows it does wonders for his career and believes he could get into a title eliminator fight.

“He can move up there by getting a win over somebody with so much hype. A win shows everyone what I can do, it’s a big fight for me to move closer to the title,” Luque concluded.