Daniel Cormier: Islam Makhachev was tired, pushed like never before at UFC 330

Daniel Cormier says Islam Makhachev was seriously tested by Ian Machado Garry at UFC 330. Makhachev (29-1 MMA, 18-1 UFC) retained his UFC welterweight title by outlasting Machado Garry (17-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) in Saturday's main event at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia. Machado Garry hung tough on the ground, and was able to cut and mark up Makhachev on the feet. It was a valiant effort by Machado Garry, but Makhachev controlled the fifth round on the ground to definitely close out the fight. "We saw the great Islam Makhachev pushed in a way that we have not seen him pushed," Cormier said on his YouTube channel. "Granted, he still won four of the five rounds, but we saw him bloody, beat up. Ian Garry said time and time again that he was about to make this harder than anyone could have asked for. The fight starts and Islam gets a takedown early, controls Ian for the rest of the round – but there was a difference. He was never able to flatten Ian out. He was never able to truly gain control. "What he was able to do was take the back and ride him almost like a collegiate wrestler for the entirety of the first round, but he wasn't able to get him to go to his back. He wasn't able to secure dominant position. You could tell it was going to take a lot of energy for Islam to keep Ian Garry down. I have to start by telling you guys that Ian Garry was so well prepared that he fought about as good a fight as you can against Islam Makhachev. But I try to not judge Islam differently than I do everyone else." With the win, Makhachev broke the record for most consecutive victories in UFC history. "Most people would be over the moon to have now defended a championship in a second weight class," Cormier continued. "He's only the fifth person to do that in UFC history. Most people would be over the moon to win four of of five rounds on two cards in a fight like this, but I know Islam, and he's going to judge himself differently. But the reality is, there was a lot of pressure on him to go out there and win this fight. To think about Islam Makhachev winning 17 fights in a row is absolutely insane. "When Anderson Silva won all those fights and defended the belt those times and won 16 fights in a row, no one ever thought that record would be broken, and Islam did that. You put this in historical terms and you put this with some of the greatest sports feats we have ever seen in any sport across the board. It is about paying homage to a guy that continues to become and prove he's one of the all-time greats, if not the best fighter the UFC has ever had." Cormier acknowledges that welterweight is proving to be a significant size difference for former UFC lightweight champion Makhachev. However, he thinks the Dagestani great is always put on a pedestal. "Second round, he hurt Garry with a head kick, won that round," Cormier said of Makhachev. "It was in Round 3 where Ian Garry defended a takedown, got top control, and it kept Islam standing the whole time and won that round across the board. He won that round on every scorecard. One judge gave Ian Garry another round, possibly Round 4. Islam's corner even told him going into Round 5, we don't know what's going on. We need you to win the fifth round, and I truly believe that's what champions are made of. In those moments, those dark times where you're unsure and you have to go and get something done, Islam showed and proved once again that he's able to get something done. He did that. He won the fifth round. He won the fifth round in dominant fashion. It was the first time that he was able to secure Ian Garry and control him with back control. "He got a body triangle and he rode him the entire time. It was a tremendous performance by Islam and he remains a champion. He did look a little bit more tired. He's pushing around more weight than he normally pushes around, but he said he is intent on staying at 170 pounds. He said he's taking everybody down and his style of fighting is working at welterweight. It's difficult to ask someone when they're the champion of a weight class above where they don't have to cut the weight that they normally do to go back down to the weight that he was killing himself to make. So, I think we need to judge Islam as we judge everyone else and stop moving the line because he's so great. We can't judge him based on his greatness. We do have to judge him like we judge everybody else that we see fight inside the octagon." This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Daniel Cormier: Islam Makhachev was tired, pushed like never before at UFC 330