Russia’s Islam Makhachev used his dominant grappling to earn a unanimous decision win over Ian Machado Garry to retain his UFC welterweight title in a tight, tense five-round battle in the main event of UFC 330 in Philadelphia in the early hours of Sunday.
The 28-year-old Irish challenger provided plenty of problems for the champion, but Makhachev’s limpet-like wrestling saw him safely through as he set a new UFC record of 17 victories in a row in the promotion.
At a considerable disadvantage in terms of height and reach, Makhachev brought the fight to the mat early in the first round with a lightning-quick single-leg takedown, but Garry remained calm as he worked his way back to his feet without suffering any damage.
In the second round, the Russian connected with a high kick to Garry’s head that left him stunned, and again the fight went to the ground. This time, Garry was left on his back in the middle of the cage, but again he managed to get back to his feet as he survived the round.
The tide briefly turned in Garry’s favour midway through the third round when he began to find his range, landing heavy kicks to the body and lead leg of his opponent and for the most part avoiding being taken down. But Makhachev went back to his smothering grappling in the fourth round to regain control of the bout.
Likely needing a finish to wrest the belt from his opponent, Garry gave his all in the final frame, but the champion managed to stay out of trouble as he held on to win on the scorecards of all three judges.
“Ian is a great fighter, a good man, and I just respect him. He gave me a hard time, but I still prove [myself] every fight. Thank you for this match,” Makhachev said.
In the co-main event, American-Brazilian Mackenzie Dern retained her women’s strawweight title with a decision victory over Gillian Robertson of Canada.
