Old-school wrestling types call it "heat."

It's the authentic reaction—often animosity—that a performer gets from a crowd through their work in the ring and the persona they have created and cultivated beyond it.

It generates buzz. It gets ratings. It sells tickets.

Most importantly, it makes money.

Though he's just 26 and can't be deemed old for anything, Ian Machado Garry gets it.

"All the fighting and everything you do in the Octagon, that's the most important work," he said. "Everything outside of it is to build a fight, build the brand, bring more eyes to the sport.

"The truth is this is still a new sport. Right now, it's only 30 years old. Not many people focus on it. Not many people know about it. There's only a certain select few who bring the general fanbase or the general population into this."

And those fighters, he told Bleacher Report, are the ones those fans never forget.

The Conor McGregor types, for example.

People who've never seen a UFC fight still know who McGregor is, and that's the target he's aiming at.

"There's people like Conor McGregor, there's people like Israel Adesanya, there's people like Charles Oliveira in Brazil who will have the nation behind them," Machado Garry said.

"I don't care where you're from, I don't care who your favorite fighter is in the world, I want people to tune into me. I want people to go 'I want to watch that kid fight because that kid's electrifying, that kid's entertaining. And f--k me, can he fight?'"

So far, so good.

Now a long-limbed 170-pounder with a lanky 6'3" frame, Machado Garry grew up within 30 minutes of McGregor's hometown near Dublin and took up judo as a teen while the "Notorious" one was making a big splash in the UK-based Cage Warriors promotion.

He earned a black belt by age 18, graduated to amateur MMA status soon after, and he had his first pro fight—also with Cage Warriors, in Liverpool—as a 21-year-old in early 2019.

He'd gotten to 7-0 and earned a title belt by the time Dana White called, and his stateside debut came on a particularly high-profile stage, in the early prelim finale at UFC 268 in New York.

The result? A first-round KO.

And an unapologetically brash artist since labeled "The Future" was born.

Not exactly McGregor 2.0. But close.

"I'm 26 years of age. I'm living my dream," he said. "I was a kid. I was watching Conor McGregor on the rise. He inspired me to be here. Whatever you guys say. Whatever you think. F--k you. I'm here. I'm gonna be a world champion whether you guys want it or not."

The rise continued with consecutive decisions in 2022 but dialed up a level last year—which Machado Garry began with a third-round TKO of Song Kenan at UFC 285 in March, followed with a first-round stop of Daniel Rodriguez on an ABC-televised show in May, and capped off with a dip into the rankings and a scorecard defeat of veteran Neil Magny in August.

He's hoping for three more career-enhancing fights in 2024, and he got the party started Saturday night in Las Vegas with a split decision over 10th-ranked Geoff Neal.

Two judges gave Machado Garry all three rounds to offset a third who saw it 2-1 for Neal despite the winner's edge in significant strikes across each five-minute session.

It wasn't a fan-friendly encounter thanks to Machado Garry's decision to use lateral movement and precision striking to frustrate a powerful foe, but he still managed to make his appearance memorable thanks to a callout of the most talkative fighter in the 170-pound ranks: Colby Covington.

It makes competitive sense because he's ranked fifth in the division. It makes economic sense because it's hard to imagine a chattier, more clickable run-up. And if they put it on a show alongside McGregor's much-discussed UFC return, the internet might buckle under the banter.

"It brings massive amounts of fans to the fight. It's a massive fight," Machado Garry said.

"Pay-per-views would be off the charts, and the truth is the buildup, the s--t talk between me and him, off the charts. But then you take all that out of it, I'm just a far better athlete than him and he'll never be able to beat me. To be honest, it's the biggest name you could have outside of the belt, the people love him, and I'll absolutely destroy him. There's no argument."

Covington, who turns 36 this week, is known for a limitless gas tank inside the cage but more so for bluster out of it, including an unfiltered loyalty to a polarizing former U.S. President.

"Chaos" debuted in the UFC in 2014 and won seven of his first eight fights but has since won just two of five—with all three losses coming in title tries. In the third of them, against Leon Edwards, he landed just 44 significant strikes and had two takedowns in five listless rounds.

Fitting fuel for Machado Garry's vitriolic fire.

"I'll outpace Colby, I'll outwork him, I'll outfight him," he said. "I'll chat s--t to him in that cage, I'll jab him in the mouth, I'll break his nose, I'll break his jaw. He'll never be able to speak again when I'm done. He'll be too ashamed. He'll never open his mouth when I'm finished with him.

"You put that one on the co-main on the Conor McGregor-Michael Chandler card, that s--t's f--king fire, right?"

And if he makes it look that easy a title shot is a given. Or, maybe not.

Because Machado Garry is determined to earn his opportunity without debate, even if he already believes he's the world's best welterweight.

"I have to go and prove it," he said. "I can feel it all I want. I can be mentally confident.

"I can be physically confident in my abilities. I have to go out there and prove it. All the talk in the world means nothing if you don't go out there on fight night and show up. I want to earn my world title shot. I don't want it given to me. I want to earn it."

And that goes for history, too.

Though memorable with his mouth, McGregor earned his place on the all-time octagonal list by winning undisputed championships at 145 (beating José Aldo) and 155 pounds (stopping Eddie Alvarez) over the course of 11 months across 2015 and 2016.

He also rode shotgun to Floyd Mayweather Jr. for boxing's second-biggest PPV match (4.3 million buys) in 2017 and has been a main eventer in eight of the top 10 UFC PPVs as well—including the top seller (2.4 million buys) against Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2018.

Which means the bar for Machado Garry, as hero or heel, is set high.

"I'll get my belt. It'll be wrapped around my waist. I'm ready to go, I'm here to prove it, and I'm excited about the journey," he said. "I want my legacy set in stone, and if that means that I've got everyone in the world talking about me, or if that means I've got five people in the world talking about me, screaming my praise, it doesn't matter.

"As long as I can sit down and say 'I'm one of the best to ever do it, and there is no argument, there is no debate. I'm on that list,' that's the single most important thing to me in the world."