Garry predicts fourth-round finish over Makhachev to claim UFC welterweight title at UFC 330

Ian Machado Garry has predicted a fourth-round knockout of Islam Makhachev when the pair meet in the UFC 330 main event on August 15 in Philadelphia, with the Irishman declaring he will become the new welterweight champion by dominating the lightweight king across every minute of the fight before delivering the finish on his own terms.

Speaking at a Matchroom Talent Agency signing press conference in Dublin on Tuesday, Garry was precise about how he wants the night to unfold. “I want a fourth-round finish,” he said. “I don’t want any early knockout, because then there’s ifs, buts, maybes, there’s excuses. I want four rounds of domination and in that fourth round, I’m going to tell everybody, I’m going to do it now, and then I’m going to go in and I’m going to finish him.”

Garry enters the fight on the back of consecutive wins over former welterweight champion Belal Muhammad and top contender Carlos Prates, and has lost just once in 11 UFC appearances. Makhachev, meanwhile, arrives on a 16-fight winning run that has made him one of the most dominant champions in the promotion’s current roster.

The finishing instinct Garry is promising has been less evident in his recent outings. His last knockout came at UFC Charlotte in June 2023, when he stopped Daniel Rodriguez in the first round — though eight of his first 12 professional victories did come inside the distance.

The Dublin press conference also marked Garry’s formal announcement of a management deal with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Talent Agency, a partnership he hopes will raise his commercial profile heading into the biggest fight of his career. Beyond UFC 330, Garry has a longer-term ambition in mind: bringing the UFC back to Ireland, ideally to Croke Park, as a defending champion.

“I remember going to Dublin games and it was 86,700,” Garry said. “The love in this country for sports and getting behind their own is massive. And I want to be the type of guy that brings the UFC back to Ireland. It’s been a long time.”

The UFC last held an event in Dublin in 2015, at the 3Arena. Matchroom is already staging a Croke Park event on September 5, headlined by Katie Taylor’s retirement bout against Flora Pili, and Garry has made clear he wants to follow that blueprint — on the condition he returns from Philadelphia with a title belt.