RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to Philadelphia for its
latest numbered event in UFC
330 , where the top two fights are doing a lot of work. On the
plus side, the two title fights here are quite interesting;
welterweight champ Islam
Makhachev looks to continue chasing greatness against Ian Machado
Garry , and the strawweight title fight between Mackenzie
Dern and Gillian
Robertson should result in a fun grappling battle. But there's
a surprising lack of depth here; it seemed like a lock that some
local contenders like Sean Brady
or Joe
Pyfer would be featured, but that never materialized, leaving
the rest of this card without much in the way of other immediately
relevant results. Jose Ochoa ,
one of flyweight's most exciting prospects, at least gets a chance
at a breakout win over Charles
Johnson , and Esteban
Ribovics should bring the violence against Edson
Barboza . While a middleweight bout between Mansur
Abdul-Malik and Dustin
Stoltzfus surprisingly gets a slot on this main card, it at
least features two Pennsylvania-born fighters. UFC Lightweight Championship Islam
Makhachev (28-1) vs. Ian Machado
Garry (17-1)
Odds: Makhachev (-340), Garry (+270) Islam
Makhachev 's career remains fascinating, as he's clearly one of
the best fighters of this era without having the massive result
that establishes him as an all-time great. He's also clearly in the
shadow of longtime friend and training partner Khabib
Nurmagomedov , as he was defined as "the next Khabib" even while
the original product was still active. Given the hype, Makhachev
figured to rise up the ranks and contend just as quickly as his
teammate, but those dreams were quickly dashed, as he suffered a
shocking knockout loss to Adriano
Martins in his second trip to the Octagon. That gave the UFC
enough of an excuse to slow-play Makhachev's matchmaking while
Nurmagomedov contended, and he put that time to good use,
establishing himself as a product of the Nurmagomedov school while
developing his own approach; Khabib was much more of a standout
athlete who could funnel opponents into a wrestling-heavy fight,
while Makhachev was much more technically well-rounded and could
stay ahead of things in various aspects. Once Nurmagomedov
surprisingly retired following the death of his father, the
Makhachev push was immediately on, and he proved more than ready
for the moment; he made easy work of a run of opponents that
included Dan Hooker
and King
Green , then took apart Charles
Oliveira to win the lightweight title.
Makhachev's lightweight reign lasted four defenses, the best of
which was his first against featherweight champion Alexander
Volkanovski , who had seemingly cleared out his own division;
the two put on an all-timer of a bout that Makhachev eked out,
surprisingly leaning on a striking advantage while Volkanovski
proved a quite effective wrestler. Unfortunately, that win seems to
have been narratively cheapened a bit by that seemingly being
Volkanovski's peak — Volkanovski stepped in on late notice for a
rematch eight months later and ate a quick knockout, then took
another quick turnaround and wound up dropping his belt to Ilia
Topuria at 145 pounds. Makhachev's next defense saw him gut out
a surprisingly tough fight against Dustin
Poirier , an impressive performance that suffered in comparison
to Nurmagomedov's much more definitive win over Poirier years
prior, and what seemed like it could be a career-defining win over
Arman
Tsarukyan instead turned into a one-sided victory over
non-contender Renato Moicano; Tsarukyan pulled out due to injury
the day before the fight, and Moicano was plucked from another
fight just to save the main event.
There were interesting fights still on the table for Makhachev at
lightweight — namely Tsarukyan and Topuria — but he instead
announced his move up to welterweight, where he surprisingly wound
up facing Jack
Della Maddalena ; Della Maddalena wasn't a name on anyone's lips
as an obvious champion earlier in the year but managed to upset
Belal
Muhammad to take the 170-pound crown that May. Unfortunately,
Makhachev made Della Maddalena look like a bit of a flash in the
pan as a championship-level fighter, outwrestling him handily —
something that now seems inevitable in retrospect given Della
Maddalena's own subsequent struggles. But thankfully, welterweight
has a deep bench of contenders that should offer Makhachev some
interesting matchups, particularly now that he might have some
clear physical disadvantages; it's a bit of a surprise that the UFC
went with Ireland's Ian Machado
Garry over more violent options, but it's still a fascinating
pairing.
A standout on the European scene, Garry needed just two years and
change to prove everything he needed to prove at the regional
level; long for the division and an impressive game planner, "The
Future" showed an ability to lean on his striking or wrestling as
the matchup called for it, taking apart his opposition without ever
facing much danger. That continued through the first few fights of
Garry's UFC career, though some potential issues did start to show;
the Irishman could be somewhat overconfident in using his height as
his defense, walking into a few moments of danger that he was able
to recover from impressively. A 2023 knockout win over Daniel
Rodriguez seemed like the level of master class that could
launch him into some bigger things — Garry even called his shot in
terms of how he would knock Rodriguez out — but for a while, it
seemed like it would wind up as the best performance of Garry's
career.
The Rodriguez win did in fact launch Garry into some tough tests,
but it's hard to say he met the moment despite a few big wins on
paper; Garry was plagued by constant camp changes — while there are
worse fighters morally, Garry's ...
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