Cormier warns Garry's late-stoppage prediction could backfire against Makhachev at UFC 330

Daniel Cormier has warned Ian Garry that publicly predicting a late stoppage against UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev could set the Irishman up for a damaging night when the two meet in the main event of UFC 330 at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia on August 15.

Garry, a sizable betting underdog heading into the bout, has expressed confidence in beating Makhachev and stated his intention to showcase his full skillset before securing a finish in the later rounds. Cormier, a former two-division UFC champion and Hall of Famer, pushed back firmly on that approach during a segment on his YouTube channel.

“Sometimes, a person is misguided in their thoughts, and when they’re misguided in their thoughts, they set themselves up for a very, very bad night or a bad result,” Cormier said. “I’m not saying Ian Garry cannot beat Islam Makhachev. What I’m saying is you’ve got to take that as it comes. You can’t try to say, ‘I want to beat the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world in a certain round because I don’t want it to be a fluke.’ If you win, it does not matter how you win.”

Cormier’s central argument is that no victory over the best fighter on the planet can be dismissed as a fluke, and that Garry is placing unnecessary psychological constraints on himself by chasing a specific narrative. The former champion urged the 27-year-old to abandon the idea of calling his shot entirely.

“I would encourage him to let go of the idea that you want to call your shot, and you call your shot later in the fight so that people don’t have an opinion of what happened,” Cormier added. “It doesn’t matter what happens if you beat the best fighter in the world across all weight classes, pound-for-pound. It doesn’t matter how you win. It only matters that you win. And if Ian Garry wins by a fast knockout, if Ian Garry wins by submission, or if Ian Garry wins by decision, it doesn’t matter.”

The fight takes place against a backdrop of recent upsets at the top of the UFC card. Sean Strickland defeated Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 328, and Justin Gaethje beat Ilia Topuria at UFC Freedom 250 — results that have demonstrated no champion is untouchable. Whether Garry can add his name to that list remains to be seen, but Cormier’s advice is clear: focus on winning, not on how.