Preview: UFC 330 ‘Makhachev vs. Garry’

The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to Philadelphia for its latest numbered event in UFC 330, where the top two fights are doing a lot of work. On the plus side, the two title fights here are quite interesting; welterweight champ Islam Makhachev looks to continue chasing greatness against Ian Machado Garry, and the strawweight title fight between Mackenzie Dern and Gillian Robertson should result in a fun grappling battle. But there's a surprising lack of depth here; it seemed like a lock that some local contenders like Sean Brady or Joe Pyfer would be featured, but that never materialized, leaving the rest of this card without much in the way of other immediately relevant results. Jose Ochoa, one of flyweight's most exciting prospects, at least gets a chance at a breakout win over Charles Johnson, and Esteban Ribovics should bring the violence against Edson Barboza. While a middleweight bout between Mansur Abdul-Malik and Dustin Stoltzfus surprisingly gets a slot on this main card, it at least features two Pennsylvania-born fighters. UFC Lightweight Championship Islam Makhachev (28-1) vs. Ian Machado Garry (17-1) Odds: Makhachev (-340), Garry (+270) Islam Makhachev's career remains fascinating, as he's clearly one of the best fighters of this era without having the massive result that establishes him as an all-time great. He's also clearly in the shadow of longtime friend and training partner Khabib Nurmagomedov, as he was defined as "the next Khabib" even while the original product was still active. Given the hype, Makhachev figured to rise up the ranks and contend just as quickly as his teammate, but those dreams were quickly dashed, as he suffered a shocking knockout loss to Adriano Martins in his second trip to the Octagon. That gave the UFC enough of an excuse to slow-play Makhachev's matchmaking while Nurmagomedov contended, and he put that time to good use, establishing himself as a product of the Nurmagomedov school while developing his own approach; Khabib was much more of a standout athlete who could funnel opponents into a wrestling-heavy fight, while Makhachev was much more technically well-rounded and could stay ahead of things in various aspects. Once Nurmagomedov surprisingly retired following the death of his father, the Makhachev push was immediately on, and he proved more than ready for the moment; he made easy work of a run of opponents that included Dan Hooker and King Green, then took apart Charles Oliveira to win the lightweight title. Makhachev's lightweight reign lasted four defenses, the best of which was his first against featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, who had seemingly cleared out his own division; the two put on an all-timer of a bout that Makhachev eked out, surprisingly leaning on a striking advantage while Volkanovski proved a quite effective wrestler. Unfortunately, that win seems to have been narratively cheapened a bit by that seemingly being Volkanovski's peak — Volkanovski stepped in on late notice for a rematch eight months later and ate a quick knockout, then took another quick turnaround and wound up dropping his belt to Ilia Topuria at 145 pounds. Makhachev's next defense saw him gut out a surprisingly tough fight against Dustin Poirier, an impressive performance that suffered in comparison to Nurmagomedov's much more definitive win over Poirier years prior, and what seemed like it could be a career-defining win over Arman Tsarukyan instead turned into a one-sided victory over non-contender Renato Moicano; Tsarukyan pulled out due to injury the day before the fight, and Moicano was plucked from another fight just to save the main event. There were interesting fights still on the table for Makhachev at lightweight — namely Tsarukyan and Topuria — but he instead announced his move up to welterweight, where he surprisingly wound up facing Jack Della Maddalena; Della Maddalena wasn't a name on anyone's lips as an obvious champion earlier in the year but managed to upset Belal Muhammad to take the 170-pound crown that May. Unfortunately, Makhachev made Della Maddalena look like a bit of a flash in the pan as a championship-level fighter, outwrestling him handily — something that now seems inevitable in retrospect given Della Maddalena's own subsequent struggles. But thankfully, welterweight has a deep bench of contenders that should offer Makhachev some interesting matchups, particularly now that he might have some clear physical disadvantages; it's a bit of a surprise that the UFC went with Ireland's Ian Machado Garry over more violent options, but it's still a fascinating pairing. A standout on the European scene, Garry needed just two years and change to prove everything he needed to prove at the regional level; long for the division and an impressive game planner, "The Future" showed an ability to lean on his striking or wrestling as the matchup called for it, taking apart his opposition without ever facing much danger. That continued through the first few fights of Garry's UFC career, though some potential issues did start to show; the Irishman could be somewhat overconfident in using his height as his defense, walking into a few moments of danger that he was able to recover from impressively. A 2023 knockout win over Daniel Rodriguez seemed like the level of master class that could launch him into some bigger things — Garry even called his shot in terms of how he would knock Rodriguez out — but for a while, it seemed like it would wind up as the best performance of Garry's career. The Rodriguez win did in fact launch Garry into some tough tests, but it's hard to say he met the moment despite a few big wins on paper; Garry was plagued by constant camp changes — while there are worse fighters morally, Garry's outspoken personality seems to annoy the mixed martial arts sphere like few are capable of — and as a result, his game planning went out the window, resulting in an overly patient and neutralizing style that never did much to turn his defense into offense. That eventually came home to roost with Garry's first career loss to Shavkat Rakhmonov — a flat performance from both men — which, thankfully, seems to have motivated him to mend some fences and get back into his old groove. Garry did a surprisingly effective job — particularly in retrospect — of neutralizing and outworking one of the division's most lethal strikers in Carlos Prates, and while his November win over Muhammad seems to have portended a late-career slide for the former champion, it was still an impressive reminder of how well Garry can dictate the terms of a fight and walk away with a clean win. It should be fun to see how Makhachev approaches this, as this is a unique challenge for one of the best fighters in the world; Garry has the physical attributes to frustrate Makhachev and, more importantly, knows how to use them with an approach that doesn't figure to leave a lot of easy money on the table. Based purely on film, there's a lot to like in terms of Garry's ability to make this a slog and outpoint Makhachev on his way to a win, but Makhachev has earned every benefit of the doubt at this point; Garry's takedown defense isn't bulletproof, and the Nurmagomedov camp has consistently proven itself to be, bar none, the best team in the sport as far as tailoring a game plan to its opponent. Until proven otherwise, the pick is Makhachev via decision. Jump To » Makhachev vs. Garry Dern vs. Robertson Johnson vs. Ochoa Abdul-Malik vs. Stoltzfus Barboza vs. Ribovics The Prelims