Islam Makhachev is looking right past Ian Machado Garry's "bad guy" act and expects to find a finish in his first welterweight title defense.
Makhachev (28-1 MMA, 17-1 UFC) will compete at 170 pounds for the second time, looking to defeat Machado Garry (17-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) in the main event of UFC 330, which takes place Aug. 15 at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia. After moving up from lightweight to capture the title at UFC 322, the latest two-weight champion says he is better adjusted to the weight class now.
"Now, I feel more comfortable, honestly," Makhachev told MMA Junkie. "The first camp, so hard. I just tried to gain weight, do a lot of lifting program, but this camp, I stay in the same weight. I'm not gonna go down. Now, I'm like real
welterweight. This camp I think is more easy – but you can't say it's easy, because we're not lifting much."
Makhachev claimed welterweight gold in a unanimous decision over Jack Della Maddalena. While still a massive success, going to the scorecards ended a streak of three straight finishes. After analyzing the Della Maddalena fight, Makhachev recognizes he could have pressed harder at times for a finish, but admits his focus was moreso on ensuring a victory to win a second title.
"Honestly, I watched the fight with Jack – I don't like this fight, you know?" Makhachev said. "Because I want to be just double champ. I was just fighting like, you know, just for the win. I don't do some things to finish Jack, because I understood I won every round – I just want to take the second belt. If this was just like a regular fight, if we fight second time, I see I can finish him like every round."
With the champ-champ accomplishment checked, Makhachev says it's time to turn up the intensity, which could make for an exciting night against Machado Garry, who has turned in six consecutive decisions, going 5-1 in that stretch. His last finish came in May 2023 against Daniel Rodriguez.
Makhachev sees a path to victory by stoppage when the fight hits the canvas, and this time around, he says he wants to avoid the judges' input.
"This fight, I will take more risks to finish my opponent, because I like finishing my opponents," Makhachev said. "This fight, I think honestly, from the first time when I take him down, I have a chance to finish him, because I saw his ground game – it's not so good, you know? He have good striking, long reach, long arm, and he control the distance, always go back, but I see when I take him down, it's gonna be a finish."
Beyond what Machado Garry brings to the cage as a fighter, Makhachev has also been keeping an eye on how the person has been carrying himself in the lead-up to the UFC 330 main event. Makhachev hasn't been impressed by what his opponent has had to say on the mic and, in fact, thinks the words he has been speaking in interviews haven't been his own.
"I saw his couple of interview," Makhachev said. "Honestly, he looks very bad in this interview. Better for him training more and do less interview. It looks like somebody in the house control him and say, 'Tell him what to say in the interview.' He look very bad in the interview. ... In the fight week, he always try to act like bad guy."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Islam Makhachev rips Ian Machado Garry's 'bad guy' act, 'not good' ground game
