Makhachev survives scare at UFC 330 to retain welterweight title, coach says GOAT debate now open

Islam Makhachev retained the UFC welterweight title with a unanimous decision victory over Ian Machado Garry in the UFC 330 main event, but the performance was far from the dominant display his supporters have come to expect — and his own corner knew it.

Makhachev logged over 12 minutes of control time across five rounds and landed a shocking head kick knockdown in the second, yet he was unable to threaten Garry with submissions or push close to a finish. By the time the fourth round ended, coaches Javier Mendez and Khabib Nurmagomedov had seen enough to know the fight was tighter than the scorecards might suggest.

Rather than reassure Makhachev he was ahead, the pair agreed to tell him the contest was level at 2-2 and that he needed to win the fifth round to keep the belt.

“Khabib and I assumed let’s go the best route and let’s just say it’s 2-2,” Mendez said. “Going into the fifth round, we said we need this round. We need this round.”

Makhachev responded. He secured two more takedowns and added three further minutes of control time in the final frame, doing enough to seal the judges’ verdict. Mendez believes the manner in which his fighter answered that call places him firmly in the conversation for the greatest of all time.

UFC CEO Dana White was less generous toward Garry after the event, arguing the 28-year-old Irishman lacked killer instinct in the fifth round and that even a small surge could have swung the decision in his favour. Mendez acknowledged White’s frustration but offered a more measured reading of Garry’s behaviour — which included walking across the cage to shake the opposing coaches’ hands before the final round began.

“I’ve been in the game 30-plus years, and I’ve seen different fighters get motivated by different things,” Mendez said. “Maybe that’s how Ian gets going stronger by doing what he’s doing. Certain people do have a way of becoming better when they do things like that, like he’s enjoying himself.”

Mendez added that Garry’s composure under pressure made the fight harder than he had anticipated, a back-handed compliment that underlines just how competitive the bout turned out to be. For Makhachev, the win extends his unbeaten run at welterweight and, according to his head coach, opens a legitimate debate about where he stands among the sport’s all-time greats.