UFC 330 reaction: Islam Makhachev beats Ian Garry by decision but scorecards raise questions

Islam Makhachev defeated Ian Machado Garry by unanimous decision on Sunday, but the 49-46 scorecards failed to reflect how competitive the UFC 330 main event became.

Makhachev won 49-46, 49-46, 48-47 to retain his welterweight title and extend his UFC winning streak to a record 17 fights. 

However, Garry's adjustments, takedown defence and striking made the contest considerably closer than two of the scorecards suggested.

Makhachev dominates the opening rounds

Makhachev established his wrestling early, taking Garry down and controlling positions while looking to work towards the back.

The second round was arguably his strongest of the fight. 

Makhachev landed a head kick that stunned Garry before taking the fight back to the ground and forcing the challenger to defend from underneath.

Garry survived and repeatedly demonstrated his ability to return to his feet, but the first two rounds belonged to the champion.

That was important because Makhachev's early success gave him a foundation on the scorecards before Garry began to find his rhythm.

Garry turns the fight around

The third round represented a significant tactical adjustment from Garry.

He began using his range more effectively, landing kicks to Makhachev's body and lead leg while doing a considerably better job of anticipating and defending the champion's takedown attempts. 

Reuters also identified the third as the point where the momentum briefly shifted towards Garry.

That continued into the fourth.

Garry landed another strong body kick and began finding Makhachev with his hands and kicks, while several of the champion's attempts to establish control were met with resistance.

This is where the scoring becomes particularly interesting.

Under the current Unified Rules, effective striking and effective grappling are the primary judging criteria. 

Fighting-area control only comes into consideration if those factors are judged even, while simply maintaining a dominant position is not supposed to automatically constitute dominance.

That makes the two 49-46 scorecards difficult to reconcile with the way the fourth round played out.

READ MORE: UFC 330 betting tips: Islam Makhachev vs Ian Garry preview and predictions

Round five settles the argument

For me, the fifth round was where Makhachev earned the victory.

Garry needed to close the fight strongly, but he wasn't active enough early in the round and struggled to consistently close the distance. 

Makhachev eventually secured another takedown, took the back and established a body triangle as Garry spent the closing stages defending.

Makhachev then landed punches from the back and effectively removed Garry's opportunity to steal the round.

That makes 48-47 Makhachev the scorecard that best reflects the fight in my view: Makhachev clearly takes one and two, Garry takes three and four, and the champion wins the decisive fifth.

There is also a broader consensus emerging around that interpretation, with post-fight media and fan scoring frequently identifying Rounds 3 and 4 as Garry's strongest rounds.

Garry's next step is his hands

Despite the defeat, Garry demonstrated that he belongs at this level.

His takedown defence was considerably better than many expected, his gas tank held up over 25 minutes and he made Makhachev work for almost every meaningful grappling exchange.

The next development, however, needs to come with his hands.

Garry isn't blessed with the kind of one-punch knockout power that can bail him out of difficult positions, and that's perfectly fine. 

But he needs to invest more heavily in his boxing, particularly his jab and hooks, and become more willing to put combinations together.

Against Makhachev, there were periods where Garry was winning the distance battle but wasn't doing enough with it.

He had the range, the cardio and increasingly good takedown defence. 

What he needed was a greater volume of meaningful boxing to turn those advantages into rounds that were impossible for the judges to overlook.

Makhachev remains champion, but Garry passed the test

Makhachev ultimately did what elite champions do: he found a way to win when his opponent neutralised some of his biggest weapons.

He now owns the UFC's longest winning streak at 17 victories, while Garry leaves Philadelphia with a second career defeat but considerably more credibility than he entered with.

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