Islam Makhachev created UFC history at UFC 330, but his record-breaking win over Ian Garry left many far from impressed. The Dagestani phenom successfully defended his UFC welterweight title for the first time against ‘The Future,’ winning via unanimous decision after five hard-fought rounds in Philadelphia. More importantly, the win propelled him to 17 consecutive UFC wins, breaking his tie with Anderson Silva and making him the fighter with the longest winning streak in UFC history.
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But while the result was historic, the performance was instantly criticized, especially since Islam Makhachev relied too heavily on his wrestling throughout the match, regularly taking Ian Machado Garry down and driving him into lengthy grappling exchanges that rarely looked like a serious threat.
To make the optics look worse, ‘The Future’ showed impressive takedown defense and repeatedly worked his way back to his feet, despite the champion’s continued effort to drag him into the clinch and control him against the fence.
Even though the Dagestani fighter came real close to finishing Ian Garry with a D’Arce choke, the Irishman successfully defended it. It was only in the final round that Makhachev looked real convincing, taking Ian Garry’s back and securing a body triangle, doing just enough to effectively close out the fight and get the decision win.
Throughout the fight, the Irishman had his moments, particularly with body kicks and the ability to defend against numerous of Islam Makhachev’s takedown attempts. However, the champion’s control and persistence ultimately carried him to another victory. And that’s precisely where the criticism began.
To some fans, Islam Makhachev’s performance represented the control-heavy approach that recent revisions to MMA’s judging philosophy were meant to discourage.
The Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports revised the Unified Rules of MMA last year, emphasizing damage when evaluating who wins a round. Under the revised framework, damage is expected to be the primary consideration, with dominance and duration as secondary factors.
That is, just spending long periods of a round controlling an opponent is not supposed to outweigh meaningful damage inflicted by the fighter being controlled.
As a result, Islam Makhachev’s UFC 330 performance has sparked an interesting debate. While he obviously controlled major parts of the bout and constantly enforced his grappling game, Ian Garry’s face showed considerably less visible damage than the champion’s, which several fans pointed out as evidence that control alone should not have been enough, as it was ‘The Future’ who dealt the most damage tonight.
To further discourage stalling, even Dana White and the UFC have introduced a finish bonus, permanently bumping their standard performance bonuses up to $100,000 explicitly for fighters who secure a definitive finish.
But it seems like the number simply wasn’t big enough for Islam Makhachev, who secured his 11th decision win tonight, and second back-to-back since winning the title over Jack Della Maddalena last year.
This victory, however, still cemented Makhachev’s position in UFC history. His 17-fight victory streak still stands alone at the top of the promotion’s record books, and he still holds the welterweight championship.
However, for many fight fans, this very historic feat was overshadowed by a performance they considered too conservative.
Fans slam Islam Makhachev’s record-breaking win at UFC 330
Most of the criticism on social media actually came from fans who had expected more from Islam Makhachev on the biggest night of his career.
As the criticism came from fans who had expected more from Makhachev on the biggest night of his career.
One fan questioned in the comments whether the champion’s best days could already be behind him, “Very underwhelming performance tho Islam may be getting washed”
Another admitted that even after backing the champion, the performance failed to convince him: “I bet on Islam but bruh I was not Convinced he did enough to secure the Win.”
Even fans who count the welterweight champion among their favorites were unhappy with the approach, with one writing, “Bro islam is one of my favorite fighters but facts are facts he had to stall the fight to win.”
Another summarized the criticism more bluntly: “Sacrificed entertainment for goat status💔”
The performance also prompted some fans to push back against comparisons between Makhachev and other all-time greats: “Please don’t put this dude in jones conversations with that wrestler stalling s—”
Several viewers focused on the visible damage, or lack thereof, as evidence that they felt Garry had done more meaningful work. They wrote comments such as, “Look at both their faces and tell me who really won,” and “Someone can win without dealing 0 damage? Hahaha look at Islam’s face and Ian’s face.”
Others reduced the Dagestani’s strategy to a single description: “Professional staller”
Another fan argued that Islam Makhachev’s approach becomes increasingly predictable whenever he encounters serious resistance: “As soon as Islam gets in a tough fight he legit just holds people.”
And one particularly frustrated viewer felt the champion simply hadn’t done enough offensively despite controlling the fight, “Landed one shot all fight, a whole lot of hugging with no submission attempts or damage. The dude lost.”
So, while Islam Makhachev may have left Philadelphia with the UFC’s longest winning streak, the manner of his latest victory has ensured that his historic night will also be remembered for the debate surrounding control versus damage.
