Islam Makhachev successfully defended his welterweight title with a unanimous decision win over Ian Machado Garry in the UFC 330 main event, but the fight was anything but easy.
While Makhachev racked up a ridiculous amount of control time – over 12 minutes in total – he was never able to threaten Garry with submissions or come close to a finish outside of a shocking head kick knockdown in the second round. But with just five minutes remaining on the lock, Makhachev’s coaches knew Garry had won the third round and an ultra-close fourth round didn’t exactly inspire a lot of confidence.
So rather than tell Makhachev he was cruising towards a vict
