Ian Machado Garry CAN beat Islam Makhachev, claims Dominick Cruz

Former UFC champion Dominick Cruz has explained why he believes Ian Machado Garry has a real chance at knocking off Islam Makhachev.

Tomorrow night, Ian Machado Garry faces the toughest test of his mixed martial arts career thus far. He will go head to head with Islam Makhachev for the UFC welterweight championship in the main event of UFC 330. If he wins, the Irishman will break Islam’s 16-fight win streak, a UFC record that he currently shares with Anderson Silva but is looking to break.

Ian Machado Garry isn’t necessarily everyone’s cup of tea in terms of his personality, but there is no way of denying that he has the ability to beat just about anyone at 170 pounds, and that may well include the great Makhachev.

In a recent interview, Dominick Cruz gave his thoughts on Ian Machado Garry’s chances.

Dominick Cruz on Ian Machado Garry’s route to UFC 330 victory

“Ian Garry is good at making people fight his style of fight,” Cruz said. “Shavkat (Rakhmonov) beat him, but still that was close, and Shavkat was able to beat him at his own game. Can Makhachev do that? I don’t know. It’s a great fight.”

“Ian Garry wants to keep this an uncomfortable fight for Makhachev,” Cruz said. “And the easiest way to do that is to stop the first three takedowns of every round and keep the distance where Ian Garry is comfortable and Makhachev wants to get closer. The more he can do that, the further away that Ian Garry can get ahead on the scorecards, I think. On the other end, if Makhachev can take him down in the first three takedowns, it goes the other way.”

“I do think that moving up a weight class and fighting Ian Garry, I do see a good chance of a potential upset for sure,” Cruz said. “And I think the betting lines are going to get a lot more even when the fight gets closer. I think he’s going to be huge, like big next to Makhachev. I could see an upset happening, yeah. I see a decision, maybe even a split. More than likely a split decision win for Ian Garry if I had to guess.” Quotes via MMA Junkie