Coach explains why Islam Makhachev 'in the GOAT picture' after UFC 330

Javier Mendez says UFC welterweight champion Islam Makhachev's new record is hard to deny. Makhachev (29-1 MMA, 18-1 UFC) notched his first title defense by defeating Ian Machado Garry in this past Saturday's UFC 330 headliner at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia. Makhachev also broke the UFC record for most consecutive title defenses, which Mendez thinks puts his star fighter in a different category. "For us, the Anderson Silva record, 17 consecutive wins in the UFC, that's a milestone," Mendez said in an interview with Parimatch Online Casino. "That's very difficult to maintain, and I think it was fantastic that Islam has been able to break that. Already he broke the lightweight title defenses (record), and I'm sure if I look at all the records, Islam probably has a lot of records. But that one in particular, this is the one. This is the one that I feel put him in the GOAT picture." Mendez praised Machado Garry (17-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) for giving Makhachev a tough fight. Although Makhachev ended up winning comfortably on the scorecards, Mendez felt the fight was closer than the judges suggested. "Did I feel, going into the last round, that the fight was on the line? Yes," Mendez said. "I did not want to assume we won the fourth round because it was so close. When a round is close, I assume that they won it. So we wanted him to go and do his thing to win the next one. I said, 'Use your strikes to take him down. Please use your strikes to take him down. We need to win this round. We need to win this round.' That was our mentality. Khabib and I both felt he needed to win that round because we didn't want to assume we won the fourth. Even though we did on two of the judges' cards, we still didn't want to assume it, because that fourth round could have gone to Ian." This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Coach explains why Islam Makhachev 'in the GOAT picture' after UFC 330