Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is the most chaotic of all the combat sports.
Because there are so many potential avenues to victory, there are an equal number of ways to suddenly lose everything. Each weekend, at least one fighter with all the advantages on paper will instead taste defeat in violent fashion. Denying that disorder is what makes an extensive win streak or dominant title reign so impressive. Controlling chaos is the name of the game, and it’s why we expect our greatest of all time (GOAT) candidates to be untouchable.
Think about prime Anderson Silva, Jon Jones, or Georges St. Pierre: they didn’t have close fights very often. Each of them spent about a decade thoroughly dominating their field, rarely looking hurt or tired as they outclassed the opposition. There are notable exceptions for each man, but that’s why they were notable! Their true battles against the respective likes of Chael Sonnen, Alexander Gustafsson, and Johnny Hendricks were all shocking at the time, rare moments where this pantheon of greats looked like mortal humans.
Islam Makhachev, meanwhile, is one of the most accomplished UFC fighters of all time. Last night at UFC 330, he broke Silva’s record for longest win streak, and he did so in the first title defense of his second divisional championship. Even more impressively, he did so against a larger opponent with top-notch skills and great tactics.
He has the resume of an all-time great, which makes it exceptionally interesting that Makhachev is on the verge of losing surprisingly often.
There are more bad moments throughout Makhachev’s current win streak than his aforementioned peers. On his way to the belt, some random short-notice wrestler named Arman Tsarukyan gave him trouble, and unheralded Thiago Moises found a strange amount of success kicking him in the body. The more famous examples include little Alexander Volkanovski finishing the fight with a knockdown, one-hipped Dustin Poirier stuffing takedowns and throwing hands, and even 24-hours-notice Renato Moicano managing to clip Makhachev in the first exchange.
Continuing the trend, Ian Machado Garry gave Makhachev hell last night. He landed the heavier blows, left Makhachev absolutely winded after five rounds, and never wound up in any real trouble on the canvas. There’s no arguing the actual scorecards, but if you were to make a PRIDE RULES argument in favor of “The Future,” well … there’s a case to be made that Garry beat up Makhachev in his own record-setting win.
Every fighter has flaws, but usually the greats do a better job of hiding their own liabilities. They move the fight in a direction where their issues are no longer relevant, allowing them to retain that untouchable aura. Makhachev, meanwhile, is routinely forced to work through his struggles on the grand stage, like when he tried and failed to close distance through Garry’s jab-and-kick distance on the feet.
Unlike his mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov, we have seen Makhachev bleed many times.
To find a better comparison for Makhachev, one must reach further back into MMA’s history of great champions to the original Russian GOAT, Fedor Emelianenko. Throughout his own legendary win streak, Emelianenko found himself in trouble on many occasions. There was the infamous Kevin Randleman slam, the iffy decision against Ricardo Arona, and that shocking instance where the wrestler Kazuyuki Fujita nearly knocked him out on the feet.
Like Makhachev, he made it a habit to battle through adversity while accomplishing unprecedented feats in mixed martial arts (MMA).
When Fedor was nearly killed by Randleman, his visage never changed. He rolled his opponent over and won by submission without showing much distress, almost immediately recapturing that invulnerable aura as a result. Makhachev doesn’t have the same poker face — you could visibly watch Makhachev feeling the increasing weight of the fight last night — but he does have the same ability to turn up in clutch moments.
The silver lining of all his adversity is we have numerous instances of Makhachev digging deep and displaying a champion’s mettle. Previously, the great examples were his fourth-round takedown against Volkanovski or the immaculate fifth-round finishing sequence at the end of the Poirier dogfight. Against Garry, Makhachev dug very deep to score an incredible inside trip/body lock throw midway through the fifth that completely changed the trajectory of the round. He slammed Garry flat and knocked the wind from him, enabling a back take that sealed the final round for the champion.
That moment of spectacular technique in the midst of real fatigue is what makes Makhachev an all-time great.
The rest of the fight is what inspires hope for future Welterweight contenders. It’s easy to see how a big slugger like Carlos Prates or Michael Morales could build on Garry’s success in troubling fashion. Ahead of time, it’s more difficult to imagine how exactly Makhachev turns it up in future pivotal moments, even if he has an established legacy of doing so.
If Khabib doesn’t bully him into retirement first, Makhachev’s championship magic will someday run out like Fedor before him. “The Last Emperor” ducked out of dozens of submission attempts before Fabricio Werdum trapped him. One of these days, Makhachev’s fifth-round takedown won’t land, and he’ll end up on the wrong side of the close decision.
Or — given his potential opponents — he’ll just get smoked much earlier by a stronger, bigger hitter while trying to press forward.
Regardless of the future, Fedor Emelianenko was adored by fans precisely because of those displays of vulnerability. Fans saw Fedor hurt or in bad position, and yet he rallied on every occasion for a decade of dominance. His perseverance and grit fostered a different kind of confidence. It wasn’t that Fedor couldn’t be touched but that Emelianenko could overcome any obstacle. Walking through fire isn’t optimal, but it’s a kind of invulnerability as well.
When all is said and done, I hope fans can appreciate Makhachev in a similar manner. He may not be an unstoppable juggernaut like Khabib, but the unusually vulnerable pound-for-pound king is still an exceptional great.
For complete UFC 330 results and play-by-play, click here.