UFC 330 goes down this Saturday, August 15th and features a welterweight title fight between champion Islam Makhachev and challenger Ian Machado Garry. Not many are giving Garry too much of a chance against the pound-for-pound No. 1 fighter in the world, but one of Garry’s past opponents is.
Carlos Prates is very familiar with Garry’s game because Prates suffered his last loss at the hands of “The Future.” The two faced off back in April 2025, and Ian manhandled Carlos for the first three rounds,
using perfect movement to get in, hit his opponent, then get out before any return fire came his way. Things got dicey for Garry in rounds 4 and 5 when he tired out, but he still took the decision win.
“UFC 330, Ian Garry is gonna beat Islam Makhachev by decision,” Prates declared in an interview given during last Saturday’s UFC Fight Night: Gamrot vs. Salkilld at the Meta Apex. “I don’t know unanimous decision or split decision. But it’s going to be a decision.”
Is that coming from pure respect for Garry’s skills, or hopeful thinking on the part of Prates? “The Nightmare” has said he’d love a chance to rematch Garry and remove the one blemish on his record in seven years. He may also believe Garry is an easier fight than Makhachev.
Then there’s activity. Makhachev fights so infrequently that another welterweight title defense isn’t likely until 2027. Garry has promised he’d be an active champion with three title fights a year. If we were Prates, we’d be hoping that Garry gets that win too.
Oddsmakers don’t see it the same way as Prates, though. Garry is a +270 dog to Makhachev’s -350 favorite. Those aren’t blow out numbers, but the heavy expectation is that Islam will win this fight. And as we’ve seen when Makhachev took the belt off Jack Della Maddalena, he won’t hesitate to get to a control position and just ride things out for 25 minutes to achieve that goal.
