Islam Makhachev was up on the scorecards heading into the final round at UFC 330, but Ian Machado Garry had given him everything he could handle in a back-and-forth battle.
But with only five minutes remaining, Garry opted for handshakes and hugs to open that final round rather than storming out of the gate looking for a late finish to pull off the upset victory. That was utterly frustrating for UFC CEO Dana White to watch because with so much riding on the fight, Garry opted not to at least try and go for the kill before time ran out on his first attempt at becoming welterweight champion.
“I felt like I think that Ian is a talented guy,” White said at the UFC 330 post-fight press conference. “If he had even an ounce of killer instinct in that fifth round, he had been beating him to the body. Islam’s whole right side was beat up, his face was beat up. You don’t come out and hug and shake hands in the fifth round. That shit drives me f*cking crazy.
“When there’s so much at stake and there’s also a lot of mental gamesmanship, whatever you want to call it in this game, you come out in the fifth round with a flying knee or something crazy and you try to finish the fight. This is one of those fights Ian will go back and watch and say ‘f*ck, I wish I could do that over again.’”
While there’s no telling what would have happened if Garry came out guns blazing in that final round, White believes that could have totally changed how those five minutes played out.
In the end, Makhachev secured a takedown and maintained control over Garry on the ground to secure the victory and his first title defense as welterweight champion.
“If he came out and tried to destroy and win that last round with everything that he had, it’s a totally different fight,” White said. “[Islam] exploded up and got his back and once he took his back and put the hooks in, that’s a wrap. He’s going to ride that out until the round ends.
“But on the Islam side — Islam went out, it’s the complete opposite. Against a bigger, strong, rangy guy who has good takedown defense, controlled him, shut him down. I don’t know if he was in his head and Ian felt like he had to come out and shake hands in the fifth round or whatever. Islam did exactly what he needed to do to win that fight.”
Perhaps the toughest part to watch out of everything else in that fight was that White felt like Garry was poised to pull off the upset and claim the title on Saturday.
Instead, Garry let the fight slip away from him as Makhachev got the job done, defended the title and also broke Anderson Silva’s record for the most consecutive wins in UFC history with 17 in a row.
“This is my honest opinion on it: I felt like tonight was set up for the upset,” White said. “I felt like the upset could happen tonight with so much on the line, all the records that Islam has and he’s going to break Anderson Silva’s record.
“There’s weight classes for a reason, and Ian Garry’s a big, rangy strong guy who has great takedown defense. I mean if you look at his takedown defense tonight against Islam, it was impressive.”