Ian Machado Garry will be prepared should his services be required at next week’s UFC 315.

The Irishman defeated Carlos Prates by unanimous decision in Kansas City last weekend, revealing afterwards that he had been assured he would serve as backup for this month’s welterweight title fight in Montreal between champ Belal Muhammad and Jack Della Maddalena — a position which was later confirmed by Dana White in his post-fight press conference.

The position is a somewhat unique one, given that backup fighters would usually have a longer lead-in time than the two weeks Garry will have. However, regardless, Garry will be more than prepared for any eventuality according to his coach at Brazil’s Chute Boxe Diego Lima.

“We have to train for a war, to train as if we’re fighting,” he told MMA Fighting this week.

“The moment you’re the backup fighter, that fight can get cancelled. When Makhachev was fighting Arman, we offered [to be the backup], Charles [Oliveira] asked a lot, and the UFC said, ‘No, Charles won’t be the backup. Get some rest, you just fought. You deserve a vacation. Be there as the guest fighter.’ And on Friday, the day of the weigh-ins, the fight was off. Even if you don’t believe it, anything can happen.”

Should Garry step into the cage next weekend, he will likely still be wearing some damage from his five-round battle with Prates — but Lima adds that this is just a fact of life in the fight business.

“You can’t come out unscathed after a 25-minute war,” Lima explained.

“Thank God they both avoided serious injuries. The important thing right now is to recover from the injuries, get some rest, and then go back to light training after four five days. Move the body in training, do some light sparring. It’s difficult because you have to train everything, and time they have two complete different styles.

“Fighting Belal is one thing, and Maddalena is totally different. We have to work on conditioning to get better for both in case something happens. I don’t think this fight will fall off, but we have to go there expecting it to get cancelled.

“Ian always stays light, he’s always training, so he’s ready for any opportunity,” Lima said. “Every fighter dreams with entering in the UFC, and when they do, they dream with winning the belt. Ian is super young but already very experienced. His penultimate fight was a loss, but he came out bigger than before. He’s showing how good he is, and he deserves this opportunity.”