It wasn’t as dominant as Islam Makhachev and his team would have liked it. Still, the Dagestani fighter retained the UFC welterweight championship by defeating Ian Machado Garry in the main event of UFC 330 in Philadelphia.
Makhachev has now won 17 straight bouts in the UFC, breaking a tie with Anderson Silva for the biggest win streak in the history of UFC.
“Ian is a great fighter, good man,” Makhachev said in his post-fight interview. “He gave me a [hard time], but I prove [myself] every time. Thank you so much for the fight.”
After about a minute of feeling out, Makhachev used a high kick (though blocked) to score an early takedown on Garry. Though Garry was able to return to his feet near the fence, he wasn’t able to escape Makhachev’s grasp at all in the frame.
Garry looked to use his striking and range management in the second round, but he didn’t do enough and fought on the inside. It allowed Makhachev to land a damaging head kick that rocked Garry. Makhachev brought Garry to the ground and threatened submission attempts and finishing ground-and-pound, but Garry survived the round.
The first half of round three was quiet, but that changed when Makhachev grabbed Garry’s leg. But Garry fought out of Makhachev’s attempt, targeting Makhachev’s shoulder and standing his ground, landing jabs and kicks to the body and legs from range.
After some trading early in round four, Makhachev went for another takedown. Garry tried to target Makhachev’s shoulder and get to the defending champion’s back. Makhachev was ready and got to Garry’s back, controlling the action against the fence.
Makhachev scored three takedowns in the round. But Garry was able to dig into the head and body with punches during the round’s final minute — with some blood from Makhachev notably dripping onto Garry’s chest.
Garry was able to use his striking well early in round five, but Makhachev successfully scored a takedown halfway through the round. He worked his way to Garry’s back and controlled the rest of the fight from there.
The judges scored the bout 49-46 (x2) and 48-47.
This marked Makhachev’s first successful welterweight title defense since claiming the gold with a win over Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 322 this past November. Makhachev has previously been lightweight champion, winning that title at UFC 280 and defending it four times before vacating it to move divisions.
