UFC 330: Makhachev vs Garry - Aug 15 🇺🇸

[wandshogun09]

This one’s just around the corner. ECW Country. Rocky Balboa Country. ‘Smokin’ Joe Frazier Country. The Octagon is back in Philly…

PARAMOUNT+ MAIN CARD
Islam Makhachev©️vs Ian Garry - Welterweight Title 

Mackenzie Dern©️vs Gillian Robertson - Strawweight Title 

Jalin Turner vs Kaue Fernandes 

Mansur Abdul-Malik vs Dustin Stoltzfus 

Edson Barboza vs Esteban Ribovics 

PARAMOUNT+ PRELIMS
Chidi Njokuani vs Joel Alvarez 

Charles Johnson vs Eduardo Chapolin 

Donte Johnson vs Eric McConico Jr

Vicente Luque vs Tresean Gore

FIGHT PASS PRELIMS
Rafael Tobias vs Lucas Fernando

Neil Magny vs Ramiz Brahimaj

Jeremiah Wells vs Myktybek Orolbai 

 

Deary me. Not the deepest of cards at all. I was actually holding off making this thread because I thought it couldn’t be the finished card. I thought they must be about to add something significant any day now. But it’s fast approaching now and nothing. I think this is it lads. Michael Morales was teasing a fight on this show and there were rumours of him possibly facing Carlos Prates or Yaroslav Amosov, either of which would’ve been fantastic additions to this card and it would’ve made sense to load up the card with top Welterweights just in case. Doesn’t look like there was any truth to that though and Morales is just training because he’s the official backup for the main event. Sean Brady is actually from Philly and said he was supposed to be on this card but there was nobody for him to fight. Njokuani was supposed to fight Geoff Neal but Neal just dropped out. Fucking shambles. I do like the main event but even then it’s unlikely to be an exciting fight. Hopefully this card surpasses the low expectations everyone seems to have. It’s not looking great on paper.
 

 

Islam Makhachev vs Ian Garry. Here we go then. I’ll say right now I’m not expecting a barnburner, FOTY contender type thing here. But it’s a really intriguing fight on paper when you get thinking about it. How their styles match up, Makhachev still adjusting to 170, Garry’s size etc. As great as Makhachev is, probably the best pound-for-pound fighter in the sport at the moment, he’s still new to the Welterweight division and we’ve never seen him have to deal with someone of Garry’s height, overall size and awkwardness. It’s gonna be very interesting to see how this all unfolds on the night. Also, a side note, hopefully we won’t need the official backup but I’m reading that Michael Morales will be making 170lbs just in case one of these two drop out.

Makhachev became a two weight UFC champion back in November. His run at Lightweight speaks for itself. Wasn’t the all time best reign because circumstances messed things up at times, like when he had to fight a lesser challenger like Renato Moicano due to Tsarukyan pulling out. But overall, he was a beast at 155. Wins over Arman Tsarukyan, Dan Hooker, Bobby Green, Charles Oliveira to win the title, Alexander Volkanovski twice, Dustin Poirier and then the Moicano squash match. He moved up to 170 on the MSG card back in November and became Welterweight champion with a complete one way traffic decision over then champ Jack Della Maddalena. Exploited his lack of wrestling, took him down repeatedly and just rinsed him on the scorecards to a 50-45, five round shutout. It was an impressive performance given that he was making his Welterweight debut, but it also has to be taken into account that JDM’s defensive wrestling wasn’t up to snuff either. So really, it was a favourable stylistic matchup for Makhachev. This Garry one, I don’t think it’s as straightforward. 

There was a lot of talk after his win over JDM that we might get the big Makhachev vs Ilia Topuria ‘superfight’ on the White House card in June. It definitely seems like it was in the plans at one point. But for whatever reason, it wasn’t to be. And as much as I liked the idea of that fight, it would’ve been better at 155 if it was gonna happen at all. I don’t think Topuria has any business at 170. There were also a few rumblings of a possible Makhachev vs Kamaru Usman title fight, which baffled me to be honest. I’m glad that silliness didn’t amount to anything. I think Garry’s a much more interesting fight for Makhachev and probably the first serious, true test for him at 170. When the fight was first announced, there was some speculation about it possibly being Makhachev’s retirement fight. Not sure where that came from but he’s shot it down anyway.

“I’m not retiring after beating Ian Garry. It’s not going to stop at a 17 fight win streak. It’ll be much more. I have to beat Ian Garry to beat Anderson Silva’s record.” - Islam Makhachev

Interesting. He’s obviously referring to Anderson’s 16 fight UFC win streak starting with his complete demolition of Chris Leben in his Octagon debut in 2006 and finishing with the Stephan Bonnar squash on the UFC Rio card in 2012. As I type this, Makhachev and Silva hold the record for the longest winning streaks in UFC history at 16 apiece. So a win over Garry here puts Makhachev at the top of that table. I hadn’t even realised that stat was a thing until now. I’m a huge fan of Anderson but it’d be pretty cool if Makhachev can break that record. And he’s already kind of bettered Anderson’s streak in a way because, while they both went on a run of wins in two divisions during their streaks, Makhachev actually became champ in both weight classes.

Like I said though, Garry’s no pushover. 17-1 record with the only loss coming against Shavkat Rakhmonov. Has wins over Daniel Rodriguez, Neil Magny, Geoff Neal, MVP, Carlos Prates and Belal Muhammad. Not bad at all. I’m not a fan really. There’s something off about him personality-wise and I find him quite dull to watch in the cage more often than not. But he’s not an easy man to beat and he’s even harder to look good against. Still only 28 years old as well, six years younger than Makhachev and probably at his physical peak right now. He’s 6’3” to Makhachev’s 5’10” and he has four inches of reach on him. He’s a legit Welterweight who could easily fight at Middleweight. There’s no way he could make 155, which is where Makhachev has fought almost all of his career. So even just size-wise, this is a real test for Makhachev on paper. Then you factor in that he’s not easy to take down. The UFC website has his takedown defence listed as 80%, although for context I don’t think many of his opponents in the UFC have really pushed him in that area. He did defend a few against Belal last time out though. I don’t think Belal actually completed one takedown on him but I don’t remember him shooting that much either. That fight wasn’t good to watch so it’s kind of a blur in my memory already and it only happened in November. As usual, despite being a bit of a bore bell to bell, Garry’s talking a big game.

“I was told I was next in January, there were talks in April, then there was an official offer put out for May 9th, which he turned down. It was no, no, no. The UFC spoke to me about how they needed to do their due diligence and put on one of the biggest fights they possibly could, which was Ilia vs Islam at the White House. Islam turned it down to my knowledge. And here we are. The right fight has been made. The fight that should be fought. And we get it on August 15th, my friend. Islam only fights once a year. His next defence might be July 2027. The Welterweight division is the greatest it’s ever been. When I’m the champion, there’s gonna be more activity, more high-level fights. It’s the best thing for the sport.”

“I have nothing but love and respect for Islam Makhachev and the body of work that he’s done in the UFC is unbelievable. When I fight Islam on August 15th, I’m gonna dismantle him. And when I do, there’s no doubt I’ll be the greatest fighter on the planet. Islam has never faced anyone as tall, long and fast as me. Bring your takedowns, I’ll prove you can’t submit me, I’ll dominate on the ground and take that title. I want a fourth round finish. I don’t want an early knockout because then there’s ifs, buts and excuses. I want four rounds of domination and in that fourth round I’m going to finish him. I’m going to take his head clean off his shoulders. I’m going to bounce him on his skull. I’m going to take his title, I’m going to take his throne and I’m going to finish that consecutive win streak. I’ll always be the guy that stopped history from happening.” - Ian Garry

Christ. Like I said, talks a good game. And I’m not even saying he can’t win this fight. But fuck me, he goes on like this before every fight only to stick and move and do the bare minimum to win on points most of the time. Maybe he’ll up his game here and pull something out of the bag, because let’s face it he’s probably gonna need to. But I’m not buying these wolf tickets from him anymore. The soundbites in the pre-fight promo packages never match what you see once the cage door closes. But all that said, again, I’m not discounting the fact that he could be a tricky fight for Makhachev to actually win.

Another little side story that’s worth a mention here, is Garry recently signed with Eddie Hearn and Matchroom’s talent agency.

Obviously he’s not gonna be boxing on Eddie’s shows, not for the foreseeable future anyway, but like Tom Aspinall, he’s being represented by Eddie now. It sounds like a different situation to the Aspinall one though. I don’t think there’s any rift between Garry and the UFC. He’s just trying to raise his profile. Either way though, we know Eddie’s doing all this mostly to annoy Dana. Maybe Garry gains from it though. Pinch of salt but Eddie’s claiming that Aspinall has made $1 million outside the UFC since he signed with Matchroom. I’m not sure how but that’s his claim. I know Tom’s started a podcast recently but an extra million? I guess even just having Hearn talking you up in interviews is a plus though. Say what you want about him but he’s always had the gift of the gab and, in just a matter of months, he’s already been promoting Aspinall and Garry better than Dana has in years.

“We won’t be having dealings with the UFC regarding Ian Garry. That contract is set, he’s got his fight coming up. It’s very different to the Tom Aspinall scenario. I didn’t feel that this was a confrontational signing. I know people like to run the narrative…this has got nothing to do with it.”

“I look at Ian Garry as a potential superstar of sport. And I’m building a representation agency of great athletes with high commercial power and demand. Ian sits within that mould. I looked at this guy for a long time. I love his spirit. I love his personality. He’s a tall, good looking guy who speaks incredibly well and I’ve long felt that this is a guy that I actually think has the attributes to be a superstar. I couldn’t be happier. These guys, they get it. Ian Garry has the potential to be a crossover star.” - Eddie Hearn

That’s a lot of words when a simple “Fuck you Dana” would’ve sufficed, Edward.

Seriously, it’s pretty mad to think that we might be just weeks away from Eddie Hearn managing both the UFC Heavyweight and Welterweight champions, isn’t it? I’m not sure it means a whole lot in reality and I can’t see him getting too involved in Garry’s affairs. But I’m sure it’s gonna become more of an annoyance to Dana once the Aspinall UFC return is officially set and Eddie’s sticking his beak in. Imagine Eddie at the press conference with Aspinall, with Dana up on the stage? That would be the first UFC presser I’d tune in for in a while.

Anyway, I’ve gone on long enough. How do we see this one playing out then? I don’t know what to think. When the talk of it first started up late last year after Makhachev’s win over JDM, my initial, knee jerk reaction was that Makhachev probably grapples Garry into oblivion without much hassle. I’m still leaning towards a Makhachev win but the more I think about it, the trickier and less straightforward it seems. As much as I like JDM, he really was lacking that key ingredient of defensive wrestling which is obviously crucial against Makhachev. And as such, I’m not sure how much of a test he actually was for Makhachev’s debut at 170. Do we really know much more about Welterweight Makhachev now than we did before that fight? And for all my criticism of Garry being a dullard in the cage, he finds ways to win, he’s not a guy who makes a lot of mistakes and part of the reason he’s often dull is because he’s perfectly fine and content with dragging opponents into snoozfests if it means he comes out with the win by hook or crook. For all his serial killer talk, it seems like he doesn’t even necessarily care that much about getting finishes, and certainly not about having entertaining fights, he just wants to get the W, by any means necessary. A guy like that is hard to beat. So yeah, might not be an exciting fight to watch but I can see it being one of those engrossing tactical battles on the night. I really hope Makhachev wins. I just can’t take to Garry and, while the JDM fight wasn’t a thriller, Makhachev in general has been incredible to watch over the years. I’d like to see him make history and for his streak to continue.

 

Mackenzie Dern vs Gillian Robertson is our co-main event. Yeah, not the strongest but whatever. I don’t actually hate the fight itself. I think it could be quite interesting, especially if they both come in with the mindset of proving a point in the grappling. But as co-main on a numbered event, despite it being for the title, it does feel piss weak. Feels like an Apex main event masquerading as a title fight, doesn’t it? Oh well. I don’t mind the fight and we’re not paying any extra for it so it doesn’t really make any odds to me.

Mackenzie Dern became Strawweight champion at UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi back in October. She beat Virna Jandiroba by decision to win the vacant belt after Zhang Weili relinquished it to move up a weight class in an attempt to dethrone Flyweight champ Valentina Shevchenko. That didn’t work out well for Zhang at all and I was fully expecting her to drop back to Strawweight to reclaim her title but there’s been no updates on Zhang really since the loss to Shev. It was actually nice to see Dern get to hold UFC gold. Circumstances worked in her favour, I don’t think she’d have ever been champ had Zhang stayed in that division. But fair play to Dern. She’s surpassed what I thought she was capable of. She had her moments in the UFC before but there’s always been that lack of consistency holding her back. She’s had her ups and downs but a couple of wins over Loopy Godinez and Amanda Ribas put her back in the conversation, then she made the most of that vacant title opportunity against Jandiroba and here we are.

According to Dern, she was expecting her first defence to be against Zhang and she said the UFC were actually talking to her about that fight, with a bunch of possible dates discussed, but obviously nothing came of it and then Robertson got the call.

“I don’t know. They were talking about Zhang Weili. They mentioned Macau, then the White House, then New Jersey, so I’m not sure what happened. I’m not sure what the deal with Weili is or what’s going on. I definitely wasn’t disappointed. I’d be excited to fight her but I don’t feel any pressure to do so. It would be an honour and I’d really like to test myself. It would be amazing to beat her. But if I have six more months, or however many title fights I can get in, to keep getting better and be even more prepared to fight her, I’m excited for that.” - Mackenzie Dern

She’s also had a fair bit to say about Robertson. I was a little bit surprised, to be honest. When this fight was announced I thought it was decent enough but I didn’t think there’d be any kind of needle between them or anything resembling trash talk. Seems like there’s something brewing there though and it all seems to be about the grappling.

“I think she has good submissions against MMA girls. I don’t think she’d be able to hang with my training partners. I don’t see Gillian having that level of Jiu-Jitsu. I don’t even know what belt she is. But she has beaten girls who have beaten me. I’ve lost to white belts before in MMA. But I don’t think it would be smart for her to get involved in a Jiu-Jitsu exchange with me.”

“I’d definitely like to submit her. Even before I was champion, she was comparing herself to me, saying she has more submissions than I do and things like that. She’s built this reputation around being the best submission artist, and I feel like she’s thrown a little shade at me or downplayed everything I’ve accomplished in Jiu-Jitsu. Almost like I’m not an elite grappler. So yeah, I’d love to submit her.”

“It would be crazy if she didn’t respect me. She has a lot of submissions but I’ve never seen her in IBJJF tournaments, ADCC or the World Pro events. That said, she probably just believes in herself. I think she has more MMA fights than I do, so maybe she believes her Jiu-Jitsu translates better to MMA. That’s fine with me. I’m ready for everything.” - Mackenzie Dern

I like it. And yeah, of course Dern is on a different level when it comes to pure grappling. Any woman in the division who finds themselves getting into a full on grappling battle with Dern is probably gonna get tied in knots. And I’m including Zhang Weili in that. But she touches on it there, there’s a difference between pure BJJ and MMA grappling. And that’s where this gets interesting for me because Robertson is good at mixing in effective strikes with her grappling. That can be a game changer.

Robertson is Canadian, 31 years old, has a record of 17-8 with 12 finishes and she’s currently on a five fight winning streak. She’s a solid fighter and one of the few I’ve enjoyed watching in the women’s game over the last few kind of dead years. But I’d be lying if I said I ever thought she’d challenge for the title. Credit to her though. She kept grafting away and it’s paid off. Her last five fights have consisted of a TKO over Polyana Viana, decisions over Michelle Waterson and Luana Pinheiro, a TKO over Marina Rodriguez, and a points win over Amanda Lemos in her last fight in March. OK, hardly a murderer’s row but there isn’t the depth for a monster run of wins in this division anyway. And looking at the current Strawweight rankings, if Zhang wasn’t gonna be available for whatever reason, Robertson probably had the strongest case for the title shot.

She’s had her own shit to say as well…

“I knew that Weili was definitely in the talks if she was coming back and I do think she deserved the spot before me. Obviously, things didn’t work out that way. I expected the call. I’ve been waiting for it to happen. I knew that as long as Weili wasn’t in the picture, it was my shot. I was just waiting for it. It just feels like it’s time. Honestly, the belt doesn’t matter as much as it is about my performance. If I go out there and I don’t perform good, but I win the belt, I won’t be completely content.”

“I don’t take anything away from her Jiu-Jitsu accomplishments. I’m sure she trains with a lot of high-level girls that train Jiu-Jitsu. But they’re not elbowing her in the face like I will. Once it starts getting to a higher level, and it’s MMA, she’s had issues. She’s not been able to get the fight where she needs it to be. It’s an issue in MMA in general. A lot of people are training either striking, wrestling or Jiu-Jitsu, which she’s obviously doing, separating the sports so much. She’s not well-versed enough in her striking to set up her shots, and it’s just kind of reckless.” - Gillian Robertson

Again, I like it. And I’m more invested in this fight now than I was before I read these quotes. I think Gillian raises some points there that are pretty bang on criticisms of Dern’s game. She’s always wide open to being cracked with something and seems to just rely on creating messy exchanges on the feet and then hopefully ending up on the ground in the chaos. We’ve seen that backfire on her spectacularly in the past, like when she got smashed all over the Octagon by Jessica Andrade. She’s clearly got her flaws. The thing is, I’m not sure Robertson has the skill set to capitalise on it. She’s not the best striker herself and if it ends up being a ground battle, Dern should have a significant advantage. There’s just enough doubt there for me though. I could see a scenario where Robertson makes it a rough, ugly fight and hurts Dern, which could change things in the grappling. We’ve seen decorated BJJ champs get subbed by MMA fighters who, on paper, were inferior grapplers a few times in the past. Throwing elbows and punches into the mix can make a big difference and I’d say Robertson is actually better at that than Dern. I don’t know. Gonna have to lean towards Dern I think. But I wouldn’t be massively shocked if Robertson pulls it off either. Regardless, the winner is dropping the strap to Zhang aren’t they?

 

Jalin Turner vs Kaue Fernandes is gonna go under the radar but I think it might actually be a bit of a sleeper on this card. Turner’s had his ups and downs in the UFC and at one point briefly retired from the sport citing mental health issues. He had some decent wins early in his UFC run over guys like Uros Medic and Brad Riddell but hit a few stumbling blocks after that. He had some bad luck along the way as well. He narrowly lost a split decision in a banger of a fight against Dan Hooker in 2023 and he’s been a bit all over the place since. He’s never boring though. He’s coming into this fight off a first round TKO win over a shot Edson Barboza in December. I don’t put much stock in that win given Barboza’s current form but it got Turner back in the win column and was probably the confidence booster he needed. Brazil’s Fernandes is 11-2 with 8 finishes and he’s on a three fight winning streak. He beat Guram Kutateladze last March, which was a good win for him, then destroyed Harry Hardwick with leg kicks on the Paris card in September. I like this pairing a lot.

 

Mansur Abdul-Malik vs Dustin Stoltzfus. Not sure why this is on the main card but whatever. Might be worth a look just to see how Malik rebounds from his first loss. He’s 28 years old, 9-1-1 with a 100% finish rate and I remember him being quite heavily favoured going into his last fight against Yousri Belgaroui in March. Or at least it seemed that way. Most of the fan talk about that fight that I saw going in was pro Malik and on the night I seem to recall the commentators were hyping up Malik and seemed to be expecting big things from him. Belgaroui fucked him up though and stopped him in the third round. Not the end of the world for Malik and he’s still young enough to get back on track. But it’s all about how he handles it from here. Stoltzfus is definitely the kind of opponent you’d expect any prospect worth a shit to roll over. So, on paper, this feels very much like the matchmakers throwing Malik a bone and trying to rebuild him. Stoltzfus is 34 years old, 16-8, has lost 7 of his last 10 fights and is coming off a loss to past it Kelvin Gastelum. There’s no reason for Malik to lose a fight like this. In theory it’s the ideal bounce back for him.

 

Edson Barboza vs Esteban Ribovics. Ah man. If we somehow had a time machine and could transport the Barboza of 2012 to 2026, this would be my nailed on ‘one to watch’ and my pick to win the FOTN bonus. Even now, it’s not gonna be boring. But Barboza just looks shot to bits to me at this stage of his career. He’s 40 years old now, he’s been at it since 2009, he’s had a bunch of hard fights and he hasn’t looked right to me in a few years now. He’s coming into this fight off the back of three straight losses and I’ve mentioned it before but, look at that picture of him, there’s clearly something going on with his eye. He got bashed up in about two minutes by Jalin Turner last time out and he just looked like a man who had nothing left. Genuinely sad to see a fighter who was so explosive and full of energy in his heyday looking so flat and lifeless. Ribovics is probably gonna stop him. He’s not the best fighter and I don’t think he’d have been able to cope with a young, prime Barboza. But timing is key in combat sports and he’s 30 years old and aggressive. I just feel like this is bad news for Barboza. I like Ribovics too, he’s been pretty consistently entertaining to watch. But I’ve got no desire to see Barboza keep taking beatings out there. Even if he wins this one, it’s not good news because that just means they’re gonna throw him out there again, probably against a tougher opponent. Pull the plug Edson, for fuck’s sake.

 

Chidi Njokuani vs Joel Alvarez got added less than two weeks out from the show. Njokuani was originally booked against Geoff Neal here but Neal dropped out. This is actually probably a better fight, in my opinion. It’s not a fight that’s gonna impact the rankings or anything and both are coming off losses. But the fight itself should be entertaining enough. Njokuani is 37 now, no spring chicken, and he’s 25-12-0-1 with 16 finishes. He was on a little three fight win streak not too long ago but he’s lost to Jake Matthews and Carlos Leal in his last couple of fights. Spain’s Alvarez is 33 years old, has a record of 23-4 and 22 of those wins came inside the distance. He’s not tippy top level and he’s lost when he’s stepped in with that next level of opposition, but he’s a solid fighter, a true finisher and he’s fun to watch. He got absolutely schooled and subbed by Yaroslav Amosov in his last fight in May so he’s out for redemption here. He should win. Only thing giving me doubts is the x-factor of the short notice.

 

Charles Johnson vs Eduardo Chapolin is a last minute switch up. Johnson was supposed to face Jose Ochoa here, which was my ‘one to watch’ on a card not exactly flush with great fights. Typical. Don’t know anything about this Chapolin fella. Looked him up now and apparently he’s 30 years old and 15-2 with 11 finishes. He’s fought in LFA, was on TUF last year and he’s coming off a points win on DWCS back in September. He’s stepping in on literally just a few days notice. On the surface you’d think Johnson should be winning here. He’s been in with a much higher level of opposition overall and actually has knockout wins over Lone’er Kavanagh and current Flyweight champ Joshua Van. But he’s also wildly inconsistent so it’d be just like him to lose a fight like this. Fuck knows?

 

Donte Johnson vs Eric McConico Jr. No real opinion on this, just prelim filler. Johnson’s undefeated at 8-0 with 7 finishes though. He got a quick finish on DWCS last August, made his UFC debut in November and submitted scumbag Sedriques Dumas, then beat Cody Brundage by decision in March this year. That’s the one that made me lose faith in him though. Brundage is arse and Johnson somehow not only failed to finish him, he only scraped a split decision? McConico’s 36 with a record of 11-4-1. He’s gone 2-2 in the UFC so far. He also only managed a split decision over Brundage, got chinned by Nursulton Ruziboev and Baisangur Susurkaev in his two losses and he’s coming off a points win over Rodolfo Vieira in his last fight in April. Yeah, not much to this.

 

Vicente Luque vs Tresean Gore isn’t really grabbing me. Not a bad fight but I don’t know. I’m a broken record at this point but I’m still uncomfortable watching Luque fight after the brain haemorrhage a few years back. He’s taken some punishment since then as well. Just an uneasy feeling watching him. He did get a win last time out, subbing Kelvin Gastelum on the Miami card in April. But Gastelum looks done himself so there isn’t much you can read into a win like that. Gore’s a guy Luque should beat really, even at this stage. He had a bit of hype on him coming off TUF years ago but it hasn’t exactly panned out for him. He’s 6-4 overall now and 3-4 in the UFC. Funny little stat on him is that all three of his UFC wins have came by guillotine choke. He’s had some nasty ones. Definitely his finishing move and he put Azamat Bekoev away with one in his last fight. And Luque loves his D’Arces and anaconda chokes. Pretty high chance this fight ends via some kind of choke either way. Luque should get it done though.

 

Rafael Tobias vs Lucas Fernando. No idea. I only remember Tobias at all because his nickname is ‘Bipolar’. He’s 23 years old and 14-2 with 11 finishes. Made his UFC debut on the Oliveira vs Holloway undercard in March and lost a decision to Diyar Nurgozhay in a fight I know I watched but already have no recollection of. Fernando is making his first Octagon appearance here. He’s 29 years old with a 13-3 record and 9 inside the distance. He’s got a couple of losses to current UFC fighters Cesar Almeida and Azamat Bekoev but comes into this fight off a four fight winning streak in LFA.

 

Neil Magny vs Ramiz Brahimaj is whatever. Not a bad bit of matchmaking but it doesn’t move me one way or the other. Magny’s been a hell of a gatekeeper/litmus test on the UFC roster over the years but it’s gotta be coming to an end soon surely. He turns 39 just before this fight and has a record of 31-14. He’s beat some names over the years as well like Kelvin Gastelum, Hector Lombard, Johny Hendricks, Carlos Condit, Li Jingliang, Robbie Lawler and Geoff Neal. I think people forget he doesn’t just lose to established guys. He’s had his moments. Although of course some of those names were in career slumps at the time, it’s still not a bad list of wins for any fighter to have on their record, is it? In recent years though, the losses have became more frequent and the level of wins he’s been able to achieve have been less impressive. We last saw him at the Apex in December, getting squished by a debuting Yaroslav Amosov. He’s still only losing to top guys. His last few defeats were Amosov, Carlos Prates, Michael Morales and Ian Garry. No shame there. But he’s surely winding down now. How long does he wanna keep doing this? Brahimaj is a guy Magny might still beat though. He’s 13-6 and coming off a decision loss to Punahele Soriano back in February. He’s not terrible from what I remember but my memory of him is hazy. This is the level Magny usually beats though so if he loses this one, I think it’d be a pretty clear indicator that he’s on the slide.

 

Jeremiah Wells vs Myktybek Orolbai is a decent enough fight, to be fair. I don’t particularly rate Wells but whatever. He’s 39 years old and 13-4-1, coming off a decision win over Themba Gorimbo at the Apex back in November. Orolbai is always worth tuning in for though. He’s somehow only 28 years old, despite looking like a grizzled old samurai, and he’s 16-2-1 with 13 of his wins not making it to the scorecards. He’s gone 5-1 so far in the UFC since making his debut in late 2023, with the only loss being by split decision against Mateusz Rebecki in an absolute bloodbath. Aside from that, he nearly twisted Uros Medic’s head off his neck in his debut, beat Elves Brener on points, subbed Tofiq Musayev, ironed out Jack Hermansson and took a decision off Chris Curtis last time out in March. The Curtis one wasn’t much good, Orolbai just dominated. But the rest were all a lot of fun to watch. Hopefully more of the same here.

 

That’s our lot.

Edited August 13 by wandshogun09

[jimufctna24]

1 hour ago, wandshogun09 said:

Makhachev in general has been incredible to watch over the years. I’d like to see him make history and for his streak to continue.

100%

An ATG level fighter, capable of dominating performances such as scoring a head kick knockout over Volk in the first round and submitting Charles Oliveria within 10 minutes, yet at the same time human enough to be dragged into 5 round wars with Volk and Poirier.  Easily one of my favourite fighters to watch of the decade so far. 

[Egg Shen]

Crikey, did they forget to leave fighters for this card or something? Very shallow at the top.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah it’s rough. I expected a bit of a weaker August numbered event because they loaded up the McGregor vs Holloway card last month. But I didn’t think it’d be this shallow.

Actually saw a few people suggest that they should’ve just scrapped this week’s Apex card and put the better fights from that on 330 here. I wouldn’t have hated that, to be fair. Although there’s nothing on Saturday’s Apex show that would really make this card look much stronger, throwing Gamrot vs Salkilld on the main card would’ve given it a little boost and chucking Steve Asplund on the prelims here wouldn’t have hurt either. They haven’t even confirmed the bout order for this card yet, not even just the main card, and it’s less than two weeks away. What are they playing at? 

I’m sure I’ve said this before on here but is it just me or does everything just seem so rushed and thrown together these days with the UFC? Cards used to get built, pretty much completely, a few months out. Now they’re cobbling together main card fights a few weeks out sometimes and even some of the main and co-mains feel like they’re just cobbled together in a rush because the show is close or tickets need to go on sale. Everything seems so chaotic and disorganised these days to me. It’s so obvious the UFC isn’t Dana’s priority anymore and it’s almost like his laziness and apathy towards the UFC has filtered down and effected everything else. 

[jimufctna24]

I listened to an interview with Ant Evans recently. Evans was a high ranking UFC employee for 12 years, and had previously penned articles for PowerSlam if I recall correctly. We are all aware of that the UFC can be complacent due to their lofty TV deals, but Evans added a few more points about today's UFC that I found very interesting.

Firstly, that the previous few TV deals the UFC have been fortunate with their previous few TV deals. This is because they were signed with start-up streaming services, which were naturally desperate for notable content and willing to overpay for it. Secondly, that a large portion of the UFC's audience nowadays are not traditional fight fans. Rather, they are "betting bros", who simply want fights to bet on and not so much concerned about the quality or quantity of them. Obviously, this part of their audience are key to the UFC's business due to betting company sponsorship (they signed a new partnership deal recently with Bet365, and previously had a partnership with DraftKings).

So you have a company that has guaranteed money from their rather fortunate TV/streaming deal, and with an audience that for large part are content with the UFC booking any old tripe on its cards provided they can bet on it. Given the circumstances, it's little wonder that the company isn't motivated to book the best cards possible. 

[Egg Shen]

I"ve heard numerous times that the added gambling aspect has changed the whole game. Jon Anik is all for it though, I know he's there to pimp lines and whatnot, but you can tell he has a genuine love for sports betting.

 

Edited August 3 by Egg Shen

[wandshogun09]

Balboa photobombing the first fight week face-offs…

Is it just me or is there pretty much zero buzz for this? And I don’t just mean on here, I mean everywhere. Not surprising given the lack of depth on the card but it’s fight week and it’s pretty much crickets. It’s a shame really that Islam Makhachev, arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter in the entire sport, is saddled with such a dead supporting cast here when they loaded up the McGregor vs Holloway card last month.

Edit - fuck sake. Card just got even weaker. My ‘one to watch’ is down the shitter…

Edited August 12 by wandshogun09

[Dai]

Bizarre to think that just a handful of fights ago, Islam was fighting a tiny Volk, and now hes fighting a 6'3 legit Welterweight. Hes still a big favourite to win this one, which I sort of agree with, as the class will just be too much. Maybe the size will be a factor, but its unlikely Id say.

Dern is usually good value in her fights to be fair, and I dont expect any depth to the numbered cards any more, as they arent even PPVs now. Doesnt feel like a title fight, but not much does in the way of the womens stuff any more. Dern is still very sloppy from what I can remember with her striking, but she should still win here.

[Bruce85]

Got a feeling Garry wins this one by TKO. Think he’s going to clip Islam coming in on a takedown and get the stoppage. 
 

This is based on nothing but a hunch…

[wandshogun09]

Michael Morales made championship weight as the official backup for the main event.

Is it too late to just make it a triple threat match? 

[Egg Shen]

On 8/13/2026 at 4:35 PM, Dai said:

Bizarre to think that just a handful of fights ago, Islam was fighting a tiny Volk, and now hes fighting a 6'3 legit Welterweight. Hes still a big favourite to win this one, which I sort of agree with, as the class will just be too much. Maybe the size will be a factor, but its unlikely Id say.

 

Yeah, I feel most people just assume its just another fight for Islam, but his one fight at 170 was against an ideal opponent, this is a whole different challenge. If Islam wins this dominantly he's well onto his quest to cement GOAT status.

Ian Garry though, he's having a mare of a week. You get the feeling he's out to try and get people on his side but its all backfiring on him. Poor fucker 😄

[wandshogun09]

30 minutes ago, Egg Shen said:

Ian Garry though, he's having a mare of a week. You get the feeling he's out to try and get people on his side but its all backfiring on him. Poor fucker 😄

Yeah it’s a weird one. Saw bits of the press conference earlier and someone asked Makhachev about what he thinks Khabib’s old man would’ve thought about how his career has played out and Garry piped up basically answering for him 🤣 I mean Christ, there’s times when it’s totally OK to just shut your gob and that felt like one of them. I did think it was a bit of an odd question to ask a fighter while he’s a couple of days out from the fight and cutting weight and a bit grumpy etc, ‘hey let’s talk about your dead coach for a minute’. But Garry somehow made it weirder. He seemed to mean well and he was saying nice things in his answer, but I don’t know, maybe just sit that one out. 

And I think that’s partly the problem with Garry. He never shuts up. He just talks non stop and a lot of it’s a bit cringey or just comes off a bit awkward and weird. I can’t make up my mind what his game is. For ages I’ve felt like it’s all by design and he leans into it to wind people up and give the opponent a false sense of security. Kill them with kindness and all that. He’s often approaching his opponents on fight week, with cameras capturing it all, and being friendly to the point it comes off disingenuous. I think it rubs some guys the wrong way and I always felt like he does it on purpose for that very reason. Then if they kick off he plays the ‘what’s wrong? I was only being friendly’ bit. It always seems like he knows what he’s doing. But I don’t know now. Seeing him up there with Islam, it felt like he actually wants people to like him and he’s coming across as too much of a try hard as a result. 

Edited August 14 by wandshogun09

[Egg Shen]

Garry clearly seemed bothered at the presser when he was getting booed, him stating that come Saturday night everyone booing will be chanting "lets go Garry" was way off the mark 😄 he's all over the gaff.

[wandshogun09]

Couldn’t find the graphic for the start times but the prelims get underway at 10:30pm.

[Bruce85]

On 8/14/2026 at 11:16 AM, Bruce85 said:

Got a feeling Garry wins this one by TKO. Think he’s going to clip Islam coming in on a takedown and get the stoppage. 
 

This is based on nothing but a hunch…

This is why I don’t bet or listen to my gut…

First card I’ve watched in ages so enjoyed it, other than looking at the sickening gash on Barbozas shin, no thank you!

I enjoyed the main event, I think Islam is definitely one of the best to ever do it and I really like watching him but felt like he looked more beatable here than before. Saying that, if that head kick lands a bit more flush that could have been curtains.