Preview: UFC 330 ‘Makhachev vs. Garry’

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to Philadelphia for its latest numbered event in UFC 330, where the top two fights are doing a lot of work. On the plus side, the two title fights here are quite interesting; welterweight champ Islam Makhachev looks to continue chasing greatness against Ian Machado Garry, and the strawweight title fight between Mackenzie Dern and Gillian Robertson should result in a fun grappling battle. But there's a surprising lack of depth here; it seemed like a lock that some local contenders like Sean Brady or Joe Pyfer would be featured, but that never materialized, leaving the rest of this card without much in the way of other immediately relevant results. Jose Ochoa, one of flyweight's most exciting prospects, at least gets a chance at a breakout win over Charles Johnson, and Esteban Ribovics should bring the violence against Edson Barboza. While a middleweight bout between Mansur Abdul-Malik and Dustin Stoltzfus surprisingly gets a slot on this main card, it at least features two Pennsylvania-born fighters.

UFC Lightweight Championship
Islam Makhachev (28-1) vs. Ian Machado Garry (17-1)​

Odds: Makhachev (-340), Garry (+270)

Islam Makhachev's career remains fascinating, as he's clearly one of the best fighters of this era without having the massive result that establishes him as an all-time great. He's also clearly in the shadow of longtime friend and training partner Khabib Nurmagomedov, as he was defined as "the next Khabib" even while the original product was still active. Given the hype, Makhachev figured to rise up the ranks and contend just as quickly as his teammate, but those dreams were quickly dashed, as he suffered a shocking knockout loss to Adriano Martins in his second trip to the Octagon. That gave the UFC enough of an excuse to slow-play Makhachev's matchmaking while Nurmagomedov contended, and he put that time to good use, establishing himself as a product of the Nurmagomedov school while developing his own approach; Khabib was much more of a standout athlete who could funnel opponents into a wrestling-heavy fight, while Makhachev was much more technically well-rounded and could stay ahead of things in various aspects. Once Nurmagomedov surprisingly retired following the death of his father, the Makhachev push was immediately on, and he proved more than ready for the moment; he made easy work of a run of opponents that included Dan Hooker and King Green, then took apart Charles Oliveira to win the lightweight title.

Makhachev's lightweight reign lasted four defenses, the best of which was his first against featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, who had seemingly cleared out his own division; the two put on an all-timer of a bout that Makhachev eked out, surprisingly leaning on a striking advantage while Volkanovski proved a quite effective wrestler. Unfortunately, that win seems to have been narratively cheapened a bit by that seemingly being Volkanovski's peak — Volkanovski stepped in on late notice for a rematch eight months later and ate a quick knockout, then took another quick turnaround and wound up dropping his belt to Ilia Topuria at 145 pounds. Makhachev's next defense saw him gut out a surprisingly tough fight against Dustin Poirier, an impressive performance that suffered in comparison to Nurmagomedov's much more definitive win over Poirier years prior, and what seemed like it could be a career-defining win over Arman Tsarukyan instead turned into a one-sided victory over non-contender Renato Moicano; Tsarukyan pulled out due to injury the day before the fight, and Moicano was plucked from another fight just to save the main event.

There were interesting fights still on the table for Makhachev at lightweight — namely Tsarukyan and Topuria — but he instead announced his move up to welterweight, where he surprisingly wound up facing Jack Della Maddalena; Della Maddalena wasn't a name on anyone's lips as an obvious champion earlier in the year but managed to upset Belal Muhammad to take the 170-pound crown that May. Unfortunately, Makhachev made Della Maddalena look like a bit of a flash in the pan as a championship-level fighter, outwrestling him handily — something that now seems inevitable in retrospect given Della Maddalena's own subsequent struggles. But thankfully, welterweight has a deep bench of contenders that should offer Makhachev some interesting matchups, particularly now that he might have some clear physical disadvantages; it's a bit of a surprise that the UFC went with Ireland's Ian Machado Garry over more violent options, but it's still a fascinating pairing.

A standout on the European scene, Garry needed just two years and change to prove everything he needed to prove at the regional level; long for the division and an impressive game planner, "The Future" showed an ability to lean on his striking or wrestling as the matchup called for it, taking apart his opposition without ever facing much danger. That continued through the first few fights of Garry's UFC career, though some potential issues did start to show; the Irishman could be somewhat overconfident in using his height as his defense, walking into a few moments of danger that he was able to recover from impressively. A 2023 knockout win over Daniel Rodriguez seemed like the level of master class that could launch him into some bigger things — Garry even called his shot in terms of how he would knock Rodriguez out — but for a while, it seemed like it would wind up as the best performance of Garry's career.

The Rodriguez win did in fact launch Garry into some tough tests, but it's hard to say he met the moment despite a few big wins on paper; Garry was plagued by constant camp changes — while there are worse fighters morally, Garry's outspoken personality seems to annoy the mixed martial arts sphere like few are capable of — and as a result, his game planning went out the window, resulting in an overly patient and neutralizing style that never did much to turn his defense into offense. That eventually came home to roost with Garry's first career loss to Shavkat Rakhmonov — a flat performance from both men — which, thankfully, seems to have motivated him to mend some fences and get back into his old groove. Garry did a surprisingly effective job — particularly in retrospect — of neutralizing and outworking one of the division's most lethal strikers in Carlos Prates, and while his November win over Muhammad seems to have portended a late-career slide for the former champion, it was still an impressive reminder of how well Garry can dictate the terms of a fight and walk away with a clean win.

It should be fun to see how Makhachev approaches this, as this is a unique challenge for one of the best fighters in the world; Garry has the physical attributes to frustrate Makhachev and, more importantly, knows how to use them with an approach that doesn't figure to leave a lot of easy money on the table. Based purely on film, there's a lot to like in terms of Garry's ability to make this a slog and outpoint Makhachev on his way to a win, but Makhachev has earned every benefit of the doubt at this point; Garry's takedown defense isn't bulletproof, and the Nurmagomedov camp has consistently proven itself to be, bar none, the best team in the sport as far as tailoring a game plan to its opponent. Until proven otherwise, the pick is Makhachev via decision.

Jump To »
Makhachev vs. Garry
Dern vs. Robertson
Johnson vs. Ochoa
Abdul-Malik vs. Stoltzfus
Barboza vs. Ribovics
The Prelims

UFC Women's Strawweight Championship
Mackenzie Dern (16-5) vs. Gillian Robertson (17-8)​

Odds: Dern (-258), Robertson (+210)

The UFC has finally gotten what seems to be its wish with Mackenzie Dern as its strawweight champion, though she still feels like a strange titleholder for a strange time at 115 pounds. Dern made it to the UFC less than two years into her professional mixed martial arts career, and she was immediately tabbed for stardom; her marketable looks helped, but her status as one of the most decorated grapplers to make it to the promotion figured to carry her through where other pet projects had failed. But some issues quickly became apparent, namely that, like a lot of high-level BJJ players before her, Dern didn't have the level of wrestling chops needed to get to her best weapons; fights against Ashley Yoder and Amanda Ribas — the latter of which was a loss — saw her get stalled out in frustrating performances.

Dern rebounded with four straight wins, which didn't do much to change the scouting report but did at least prove that she was an absolute gamer as a fighter; Dern's loopy striking often makes it look like she doesn't know what she's doing from a technical standpoint, but she's tough as nails and willing to throw with enough horsepower that she can cause some real damage against most of the division. As the UFC started to push Dern into Fight Night headliner status, it was tough to tell exactly what to make of her; for someone who would seemingly be most effective as a pressure fighter, she often wasted time trying to fight as a patient striker — except during a 2023 win over Angela Hill, where she seemingly unleashed all of her rage from an ongoing custody battle onto her overmatched opponent.

Dern followed up that Hill win with by far her worst performance to date, looking lost before getting knocked out by Jessica Andrade, but that low point seems to have been cause for her to regroup; it's hard to say Dern is any sort of technical marvel, but she's at least cleaned things up enough to take advantage of her athletic gifts and fall into some advantageous grappling positions, staying ahead of Virna Jandiroba to win the vacant strawweight belt last October. As someone who's already suffered her fair share of high-level losses — and would probably get taken apart if Zhang Weili ever decided to return to 115 pounds — Dern feels like a weak champion in a wide-open division, but that could make her reign quite fun in the process, which includes this matchup against fellow grappling standout Gillian Robertson.

Signed off "The Ultimate Fighter" in 2017 as the UFC got its women's flyweight division off the ground, Robertson stood out as a violent submission artist who still needed to round out the rest of her game. Unlike Dern, Robertson eventually developed enough of a wrestling game to set up that grappling, but getting there became an adventure as Robertson moved her way up the 125-pound ranks; she obviously put the work in as a technical striker but still didn't have the disposition to make that part of her game work, as she'd easily get dissuaded by opponents who could land a few hard strikes. With Robertson also eventually hitting a physical wall against some of the younger athletes coming up at flyweight, her cut down to strawweight in 2023 was an understandable gambit; she might be at even more of a speed disadvantage, but she figured to be a terror against opponents she could track down and get to the mat.

Indeed, the positives have greatly outweighed the negatives; Tabatha Ricci was quick enough to stay out of trouble, but Robertson's strawweight career has otherwise been full of one-sided maulings — and she hasn't even had to rely on submission finishes to get things done. This is a fascinating matchup that should be quite entertaining on the ground, where most of it figures to take place; Robertson should continue to fight with her wrestling-heavy game plan, and Dern doesn't have the level of takedown defense needed to keep this standing. But it also seems unlikely that Robertson can maintain the level of control needed to lock this fight down; Dern should be able to scramble out of danger, even if that just results in Robertson repeating the process all over again.

Again, even though Dern's offense isn't pretty, she throws hard enough to cause some clear damage; add in that Robertson is completely unproven as a five-round fighter, and the lean is that Dern can cause enough car crashes to win a few rounds even if Robertson continues to take her down. There's a clear shot at an upset, but the pick is Dern via decision.

Jump To »
Makhachev vs. Garry
Dern vs. Robertson
Johnson vs. Ochoa
Abdul-Malik vs. Stoltzfus
Barboza vs. Ribovics
The Prelims

Flyweights
Charles Johnson (19-9) vs. Jose Ochoa (9-2, 1 N/C)​

Odds: Ochoa (-385), Johnson (+280)

Charles Johnson has made his name as one of the UFC's most active fighters, but his current run does raise some concerns that he should finally slow down a bit. "InnerG" got a well-deserved UFC call in 2022, though he figured to have trouble translating his game from regional championship fights to three-rounders in the UFC. Coming from a track background, Johnson treated his fights as marathons, not sprints, leveraging his cardio and durability to feel out his opponents early before turning things up in the championship rounds. Johnson has wound up fine in the long run inside the Octagon, but those slow starts have remained a constant issue in fight after fight, with Johnson having to dig himself out of a hole much more often than not. But he's still a highly effective fighter once he gets there, even scoring late knockouts over current champion Joshua Van and top prospect Lone'er Kavanagh.

Now 35, Johnson's 2026 has been a bit concerning in terms of running himself ragged, as he's suffered the first two stoppage losses of his career; Alex Perez quickly stormed him and surprisingly knocked him out, while Asu Almabayev outwrestled him handily before finding a third-round submission. Johnson did at least win a decision over Bruno Silva in between those fights, but it wasn't the best performance, so there is a slight concern that he takes a seven-week turnaround after the Almabayev fight to take on Jose Ochoa, who isn't much of a step back.

One of the many Chute Boxe Diego Lima products flooding the UFC's lighter-weight divisions, Peru's Ochoa stood out immediately, going toe-to-toe with Kavanagh in each man's UFC debut in 2024. Defense is purely optional for "Kalzifer," but he's proven impressively diverse in his methods of inflicting violence given the chance, which he got in an electric win over Clayton Carpenter this past May; Carpenter himself is a tough but defensively lax fighter, and Ochoa poured on three rounds of creative offense that announced him as one of the next men up in the flyweight division. Johnson might yet pull off his typical trick of surviving early and succeeding late, but Ochoa seems tough enough to keep charging through that turnaround after a hot start; the pick is Ochoa via decision.

Jump To »
Makhachev vs. Garry
Dern vs. Robertson
Johnson vs. Ochoa
Abdul-Malik vs. Stoltzfus
Barboza vs. Ribovics
The Prelims

Middleweights
Mansur Abdul-Malik (9-1-1) vs. Dustin Stoltzfus (16-8)​

Odds: Abdul-Malik (-550), Stoltzfus (+410)

This is the card's lone Pennsylvania-on-Pennsylvania violence, but it's still a baffling choice for this main card slot, even if Mansur Abdul-Malik is an interesting prospect. Abdul-Malik checks every box from a physical standpoint and has a solid collegiate wrestling background, making for some impressive results early in his career; when he puts his mind to it, Abdul-Malik can absolutely maul an opponent in short order. But whether it was intentional or not, the start of Abdul-Malik's UFC career saw him put in some more meandering performances, doing some striking before getting to what he does best; it was some necessary work that had to happen at some point, but also didn't impress much in terms of Abdul-Malik's ability to feel out a fight and inflict some damage.

That made it nice to see him get back to outwrestling and destroying his opposition against Antonio Trocoli this past December, though that did give way to his first professional loss against Yousri Belgaroui this past March; Abdul-Malik found some moments of wrestling success but had obvious — and understandable — trouble dealing with a 6-foot-6, technically sound kickboxer. Hopefully, the loss serves as motivation for Abdul-Malik to keep evolving, and Dustin Stoltzfus makes for a nice benchmark as a beatable but underrated opponent.

Stoltzfus' approach makes sense as a wrestler with some technically sound boxing, but he's among the least athletically explosive fighters on the UFC roster, hanging in most fights but struggling to keep up unless his opponents eventually crumble. If Stoltzfus' game was built more toward frustrating opponents from range, he could get something done here, but the pressure that Stoltzfus prefers figures to walk him into danger, even if it might take Abdul-Malik a bit to build some momentum; the pick is Abdul-Malik via second-round stoppage.

Jump To »
Makhachev vs. Garry
Dern vs. Robertson
Johnson vs. Ochoa
Abdul-Malik vs. Stoltzfus
Barboza vs. Ribovics
The Prelims

Lightweights
Edson Barboza (24-14) vs. Esteban Ribovics (15-3)​

Odds: Ribovics (-470), Barboza (+360)

This should be violent, and hopefully that winds up being fun in the process. Edson Barboza got to the UFC in close to record time back in 2010, getting signed just 19 months into his professional career at a time when that was unheard of. But Barboza was clearly worth it; he was and is one of the most dynamic kickers in mixed martial arts history, punctuated by multiple wins via leg kicks and an all-time highlight-reel finish of Terry Etim via wheel kick in 2012. But it was Jamie Varner, of all people, who unlocked the secret to taking Barboza off his game, as the former WEC champ decided to storm"Junior" and proved that the Brazilian was much less effective moving backward, eventually scoring the finish in a massive upset. Barboza would shore up that weakness to an extent, but it remained a throughline throughout Barboza's career that dedicated and effective pressure could get him galloping backward into ineffectiveness, even if that was easier said than done; if an opponent didn't have the requisite levels of skill, foot speed and durability, they'd still wind up walking into the proverbial woodchipper as Barboza landed some big counters.

For about a decade, Barboza never got over the hump into title contention but was someone the UFC could reliably throw into a high-profile situation whenever it needed; he was good for some violence — whether giving or receiving it — and served as a tricky test for a lot of rising contenders. But it does seem like Barboza is finally slowing down; he's still an amazing athlete at 40 years old after such a hard-fought career, but he was unable to get by the slow-paced approach of Drakkar Klose before getting run over by Jalin Turner this past December.

Argentina's Esteban Ribovics seems like another rough matchup, as "El Gringo" has made a name for himself as one of the lightweight division's most entertaining wild men. The Argentine scene develops a lot of aggressive fighters — it's a deep scene, but high-level athletes can usually run through their opposition without much issue — and Ribovics certainly fits that mold; he can be a bit artless at times, but he's content to keep forcing a war of attrition until the final horn, only getting slowed down by better wrestlers. He could walk into something, but Ribovics does seem to meet the baseline levels of both speed and durability to get the jump on Barboza and win this in one-sided fashion; the pick is Ribovics via first-round knockout.

Jump To »
Makhachev vs. Garry
Dern vs. Robertson
Johnson vs. Ochoa
Abdul-Malik vs. Stoltzfus
Barboza vs. Ribovics
The Prelims

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