Ian Garry Wife Layla Machado Garry: Career, Controversy, and Family
If you follow the UFC at all, you’ve probably watched Ian Machado Garry march to the cage with a lot of confidence and even more noise around his name—and then gone online to search “Ian Garry wife” to figure out who the outspoken woman always nearby actually is. That woman is Layla Machado Garry, better known professionally as Layla Anna-Lee: a long-time sports presenter, author, and now one of the most talked-about partners in MMA.
Who Is Layla Machado Garry?
Layla was born Layla Machado on March 22, 1983, in London, to a Brazilian mother and a British father of Irish and Scottish heritage. That mix explains a lot of what you see today: the London accent, the Brazilian surname, and the ease with which she moves around football, fighting and big sporting events.
Under the name Layla Anna-Lee, she built a career as a TV and sports presenter long before she ever appeared alongside Ian. She started out on children’s television—CITV, Nickelodeon and similar UK outlets—before slowly shifting into sports broadcasting.
Over the years she has worked with Sky Sports, Red Bull TV, Goal.com, KickTV and others, covering everything from BMX and cycling to football and MMA. She even provided the female voiceover in the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony and presented beach volleyball coverage during those Games, putting her in front of a massive global audience.
How Ian Garry and Layla Met
By the time Ian Garry came along, Layla was already established in sports media, including in the MMA world. He, meanwhile, was a rising Irish prospect in Cage Warriors, on his way to the UFC.
Reports generally place the start of their relationship around 2021. She was working in and around MMA broadcasting; he was an unbeaten welterweight making waves in Europe. Exactly how the first conversation went isn’t laid out in detail, but they began appearing together publicly around that time and quickly became a couple.
On February 26, 2022, the pair got married in Las Vegas in what Ian later described as a surprise wedding. Shortly afterward, he formally added “Machado” to his name, becoming Ian Machado Garry, something he’s said was about acknowledging her Brazilian heritage and unifying their family identity.
Their Blended Family
Layla was married once before, to sports nutritionist Richard Cullen, with whom she has a son. After she and Ian married, Cullen later joined Ian’s performance team as a nutritionist, which means the ex-husband, the current husband and their shared child all move in the same orbit.
Together, Layla and Ian have a son who is widely reported as Leandro “Leo” Vegas Machado Garry, born in October 2022. The “Vegas” nod in his name is a reference to where they wed and where much of Ian’s UFC career is based.
The family often travels together during fight weeks. You’ll see Layla cageside, in embedded videos and on social media, and you’ll occasionally glimpse the kids when they share family moments online.
Layla’s Work in Sports Broadcasting
While a lot of recent discussion focuses on her relationship, Layla’s CV in sports is long.
She’s covered BMX European Championships and national cycling events for Sky Sports, as well as football tournaments and magazine shows for Goal.com and KickTV, including Confederations Cup and MLS coverage.
She’s hosted or co-hosted FIFA and UEFA events, including The Best FIFA Football Awards in 2017 alongside Idris Elba, reaching a global football audience. She’s also fronted UFC-related content such as UFC Connected, bringing fighters and fans together in Europe through features and interviews.
In other words, she didn’t just appear when Ian did; she already had more than a decade of experience in TV and sports by the time they met.
The “How to Be a WAG” Book
One of the reasons “ian garry wife” leads people down a rabbit hole is Layla’s 2012 book, How to Be a WAG.
The short book was published at the height of the “WAG” (wives and girlfriends of footballers) media obsession in the UK. In the years since, critics online have resurfaced passages and argued that it encourages predatory behavior towards athletes, especially younger ones.
Layla has defended the book as satire, saying it was meant to poke fun at stereotypes rather than serve as a literal guide. Whatever the original tone, the book has clearly not aged well in the context of social media, and it’s become one of the main pieces of ammunition critics use against her.
Age Gap, Ex-Husband and Rumors
Another talking point is the age gap: Layla was born in 1983, Ian in 1997, making her about 14 years older than him. That gap isn’t unusual in celebrity relationships, but combined with the resurfaced WAG book, it has fueled a narrative among some fans that she “targeted” a younger fighter—an interpretation that supporters of the couple push back against.
Then there’s the ex-husband dynamic. As mentioned, Layla’s ex, Richard Cullen, now works in Ian’s camp as a performance nutritionist and travels with them so he can see his son regularly. Some online rumors went further and claimed he lived with the couple full-time; Layla has publicly called some of those claims lies, while Ian has said the arrangement is about keeping a strong father-son relationship for her older boy.
It’s an unusual setup, and the MMA world—never shy about strong opinions—has had plenty to say.
Why She Became a Target in MMA Circles
High-profile fighters like Sean Strickland and Colby Covington have taken very personal shots at Layla, mocking the age gap, the WAG book, and her role in Ian’s life. Some media segments and social accounts have spun those criticisms into wider narratives about control, manipulation and “red flags” in the relationship, often with little nuance.
Ian has said in interviews that he expected criticism of his fighting style, but he didn’t expect the volume and intensity of abuse aimed at his wife. He’s described much of it as misinformation or outright lies and has been consistently vocal about defending her.
Layla, for her part, sometimes answers back on social media, especially when she feels coverage is inaccurate or lazy. She’s accused certain outlets of poor standards and has tried to clarify pieces of their family arrangement, though she also goes long stretches without engaging.
Featured Image Source: essentiallysports.com
