UFC welterweight champion Islam Makhachev is currently tied with Anderson Silva for longest win streak in UFC history, and could own the mark outright with a victory over Ian Machado Garry atop the UFC 330 event on Sat. night (Aug. 15, 2026) at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Defeating “The Future” would also give Makhachev (28-1) championship title defenses in two separate weight classes, a rare feat among two-division titleholders.
Keep grinding, kid.
That’s the message from UFC
CEO Dana White, who is not quite ready to talk about Makhachev’s place among the greatest UFC fighters of all time. White insists Jon Jones is the “GOAT” and “Bones” has 16 championship wins to support such a claim.
By comparison, the 34-year-old Makhachev only has six, putting him far below the likes of fellow GOAT candidates George St. Pierre and Demetrious Johnson.
“I don’t think about that stuff until the fight happens,” White said during the Contender Series post-fight press conference. “When we see his performance on Saturday, let’s see how it plays out, but obviously breaking [Anderson Silva’s] record, you keep grinding, you keep fighting, you put your head down and just keep f*cking knocking guys down left and right, by the time you say ‘you know what? I’m done,’ then we all figure out where he ends up in the big picture. He’s on the right path, that’s for sure. He’s got all the things there to be the guy. I think we should talk about this Saturday night after the fight and see what we all think based on his performance on Saturday and breaking the record.”
Makhachev is currently the odds-on betting favorite but some fighters are already predicting an upset.
