UFC welterweight champion Islam Makhachev was rather critical of Ian Machado Garry‘s fighting style.
Makhachev (28-1 MMA, 17-1 UFC) makes his first welterweight title defense against Machado Garry (17-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) in the UFC 330 headliner on Aug. 15 at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia (Paramount+).
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Machado Garry’s past two wins over Carlos Prates and former champion Belal Muhammad came by unanimous decision. He hasn’t finished a fight since scoring a TKO of Daniel Rodriguez in 2013.
“Style-wise, he’s a tricky fighter,” Makhachev said of Machado Garry in a translated interview with Red Corner MMA. “He constantly runs away, fights on the backfoot. His opponents always have to chase him. I wouldn’t say he’s an entertaining fighter. From this perspective, (Michael) Morales, for example, he can wrestle, he goes forward. But ‘going forward’ has nothing to do with Ian Garry.”
Makhachev says no matter how much Machado Garry works on his grappling, he’ll never be able to close the gap enough to handle him on the ground.
“As I said before, it doesn’t work that way,” Makhachev said. “You can’t learn how to wrestle within three-four months or even half a year. (Jack) Della Maddalena worked on that, too, brought some guys in his camp. He spent his whole camp on it, and what? I had five attempts, and I took him down all five times.”
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Machado Garry is aware of Makhachev’s grappling prowess, but recently released a statement vowing to survive his ground game.
“He might get me down,” Machado Garry said. “I hope he does, ’cause I want to prove to the world that he can’t submit me. I want to prove to the world that I can get back up. I want to prove to the world that I can beat him in his own world. I don’t care how long he’s trained in that area. I don’t care if he’s an internationally recognized master of Sambo or not.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC champion Islam Makhachev: Ian Machado Garry ‘constantly runs away’
