Ian Machado Garry vs. Joaquin Buckley booked for UFC Tampa headliner

Top 10 UFC welterweight contenders Ian Machado Garry and Joaquin Buckley will meet in the main event of UFC Tampa on December 14th.

The promotion announced the Garry vs. Buckley fight in a press release on Friday.

After Belal Muhammad’s withdrawal from UFC 310, Garry and Buckley were amongst the top welterweights gunning to replace him against Shavkat Rakhmonov. As of this writing, Rakhmonov remains without a replacement opponent for UFC 310.

Garry returns to the Octagon looking to remain undefeated in his professional MMA career. He most recently defeated Michael ‘Venom’ Page in a dominant performance at UFC 303.

Before the win over Page, Garry earned wins over the likes of Daniel Rodriguez, Geoff Neal, and Neil Magny. He signed with the UFC in 2021 following a decorated run in Cage Warriors.

This will be Garry’s first career UFC main event and first five-round booking since Cage Warriors 125. He won the Cage Warriors welterweight championship by unanimous decision before making his UFC debut a few months later.

Ian Machado Garry and Joaquin Buckley battle for welterweight title contention

Capping off the year with a BANGER 🔥@IanGarryMMA vs @NewMansa94 is the #UFCTampa MAIN EVENT!

Get tickets 👉 https://t.co/eoKeUgRb8k pic.twitter.com/QJofp85j9y

— UFC (@ufc) November 1, 2024

Buckley returns to the Octagon on a five-fight winning streak since making the full-time transition to welterweight. He most recently knocked out former title challenger Stephen Thompson at UFC 307 last month.

After back-to-back middleweight losses to Nassourdine Imavov and Chris Curtis, Buckley earned impressive welterweight wins over Vicente Luque and Alex Morono. A win over an opponent of Garry’s caliber could catapult him into the welterweight title picture.

The December 14th UFC Fight Night event marks the promotion’s return to Tampa Bay, FL after a five-year hiatus. The UFC’s last event in Tampa Bay was held in Oct. 2019, featuring a strawweight headliner between Joanna Jędrzejczyk and Michelle Waterson.

Garry vs. Buckley is accompanied by the returns of veterans Cub Swanson and Michael Johnson, along with the debut of undefeated City Kickboxing standout Navajo Stirling.