Ian Machado Garry enters UFC 330 as a significant underdog against welterweight champion Islam Makhachev, but one UFC Hall of Famer believes the Irishman has the tools to make the betting lines look foolish.
Makhachev will make his first defense of the welterweight championship against Garry in the weekend’s main event at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia.
Dominick Cruz sees similarities between the matchup and Justin Gaethje’s recent upset victory over Ilia Topuria, believing Garry’s size and ability to dictate the pace could create major problems for the champion.
Rather than expecting Garry to match Makhachev’s grappling strength, the UFC veteran believes “The Future” can force the champion into an uncomfortable fight by controlling the distance and keeping the Russian from establishing his wrestling.
“Ian Garry is good at making people fight his style of fight,” the UFC Hall of Famer said during his appearance on ‘The Bohnfire’. “Shavkat (Rakhmonov) beat him, but still that was close, and Shavkat was able to beat him at his own game. Can Makhachev do that? I don’t know. It’s a great fight.”
“The Dominator” then explained the blueprint he believes Garry should follow if he wants to pull off the upset.
“Ian Garry wants to keep this an uncomfortable fight for Makhachev,” he said. “And the easiest way to do that is to stop the first three takedowns of every round and keep the distance where Ian Garry is comfortable and Makhachev wants to get closer.”
“The more he can do that, the further away that Ian Garry can get ahead on the scorecards, I think. On the other end, if Makhachev can take him down in the first three takedowns, it goes the other way.”
The former champion also believes Garry’s natural size at welterweight could become a major factor as the fight progresses.
“I do think that moving up a weight class and fighting Ian Garry, I do see a good chance of a potential upset for sure,” he said. “And I think the betting lines are going to get a lot more even when the fight gets closer. I think he’s going to be huge, like big next to Makhachev.”
Ultimately, “The Dominator” sees Garry doing enough to edge Makhachev on the scorecards.
“I could see an upset happening, yeah. I see a decision, maybe even a split. More than likely a split decision win for Ian Garry if I had to guess.”
