UFC welterweight champion Islam Makhachev has criticised Ian Machado Garry’s fighting style ahead of their title clash at UFC 330 on August 15 in Philadelphia, describing the Irish contender as a difficult but unentertaining opponent.
Makhachev will make the first defence of his welterweight title against Machado Garry in the event’s main event at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Dublin’s Machado Garry enters the bout on the back of unanimous decision victories over Carlos Prates and former champion Belal Muhammad, with his last stoppage win coming against Daniel Rodriguez.
“Style-wise, he’s a tricky fighter,” said Makhachev, according to Red Corner MMA. “He constantly runs away, fights on the backfoot. His opponents always have to chase him. I wouldn’t say he’s an entertaining fighter. From this perspective, (Michael) Morales, for example, he can wrestle, he goes forward. But ‘going forward’ has nothing to do with Ian Garry.”
Makhachev also dismissed suggestions that Machado Garry could make significant improvements to his grappling before the contest. “As I said before, it doesn’t work that way,” said Makhachev, according to Red Corner MMA and MMA Junkie. “You can’t learn how to wrestle within three-four months or even half a year. (Jack) Della Maddalena worked on that, too, brought some guys in his camp. He spent his whole camp on it, and what? I had five attempts, and I took him down all five times.”
The champion’s comments came after Machado Garry publicly addressed the challenge posed by Makhachev’s wrestling and submission game. “He might get me down,” said Machado Garry. “I hope he does, ’cause I want to prove to the world that he can’t submit me. I want to prove to the world that I can get back up. I want to prove to the world that I can beat him in his own world.”
The UFC 330 main event will determine whether Makhachev can successfully begin his reign as welterweight champion with a first title defence, while Machado Garry looks to claim UFC gold and hand the champion only the second loss of his professional MMA career.
Machado Garry also downplayed Makhachev’s decorated grappling credentials in his statement, adding: “I don’t care how long he’s trained in that area. I don’t care if he’s an internationally recognised master of Sambo or not.”
