The UFC returns to the ‘City of Brotherly Love’ this Saturday, August 15th for UFC 330, and they’re using some of the most iconic backdrops from Philadelphia to help promote its fights.
On Tuesday we got to see the title fight participants square off for the first time in front of Philly’s historic Rocky statue outside of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Islam Makhachev will defend his welterweight title (and attempt to surpass Anderson Silva’s record for most consecutive wins in a row) when he takes
on Ian Machado Garry. In the co-main, Mackenzie Dern will defend her women’s strawweight title for the first time against Canadian submission expert Gillian Robertson.
One thing that has been brought up time and time again leading into the fight between Makhachev and Garry is the supposed size difference. Makhachev had spent the first 15 years of his MMA career at 155 pounds, moving up to 170 to take the belt off Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 322. He had no problem dealing with Della Maddalena, but there have been questions regarding Ian Machado Garry being much bigger.
Garry is listed as 6 foot 3 inches on UFC.com, while Makhachev is just 5 foot 10 inches. Graphic mock-ups from fans on the internet had Garry portrayed as a behemoth next to the runty Makhachev. But today’s faceoff in front of the Rocky statue tells a different story. Sure, Garry is a bit taller. But the size difference is not looking as significant as advertised.
Does this change Garry’s chances of beating Makhachev? Makhachev was already the favorite coming into Philly, but he may get a few more bets placed on him coming into the final days of fight week. Even if he beats Garry with the same ease as he manhandled JDM, we expect there to always be whispers that the former lightweight can’t handle the latest big welterweight.
All will be revealed when Makhachev and Garry finally step into the cage on Saturday night.
