Islam Makhachev retained the UFC welterweight title against Ian Machado Garry on Saturday, and the victory marked a major piece of history.
As Makhachev outpointed the divisive Irish star in the main event of UFC 330, he reached a record-breaking 17th consecutive win in the promotion.
In doing so, he went clear of the legendary Anderson Silva, although there were moments when victory looked far from assured.
Makhachev, the UFC’s pound-for-pound No 1 fighter, was largely able to avoid tense striking exchanges with Machado Garry in the first two rounds, using his supreme wrestling to control the challenger.
In fact, Makhachev surprisingly dropped Machado Garry with a head kick in round two, as the pair separated after a spell of wrestling against the fence.
But Machado Garry, 28, bounced back well to deny Makhachev, 34, a takedown in round three and seemingly steal the frame with some varied striking late on. What ensued was a crucial round, which Makhachev appeared to win as he was able to take down Machado Garry again, despite looking exhausted throughout.
Machado Garry did manage to damage Makhachev with close-range strikes while defending the Russian’s grappling, but it was not enough to win him the necessary rounds.
The scorecards ultimately read 49-46, 49-46, 48-47 in Makhachev’s favour. With that, his first defence at welterweight was successful, after his record-breaking four defences at lightweight, where he outdid his childhood friend Khabib Nurmagomedov.
“Ian is a great fighter, he gave me a hard time, but I prove [myself] every fight,” Makhachev told Joe Rogan in the cage after the fight in Philadelphia, where the fans were vocally anti-Machado Garry.
“Oh, let’s see [if it’s the most-difficult fight I’ve had]. Maybe the first one in Australia [against Alexander Volkanovski], it was also very hard.
“I feel the guys have more power [at 170lb], very hard to submit them, but still my game is working. I take down all my opponents and give them a hard time there.”
“Nothing surprised me,” Machado Garry added. “I have nothing but respect for Islam.
“I believed in my heart and in my soul I was better than him tonight; he won, I have no complaints, no excuses. This was the best camp of my life.
“I love my wife, my little boy, I fight to make them happy. I’m 28 years of age, I have a decade of domination in this sport [ahead]. This man won today, that’s okay. I’m as f***ing bulletproof as I could be up here [mentally].
“To all the fans that doubt me, I’ll be back. I don’t need any of you, so go f*** yourselves!”
In the co-main event, Mackenzie Dern retained the women’s strawweight title, outpointing Gillian Robertson.