Ian Garry's takedown defense has Islam Makhachev fans worried

Ian Garry's takedown defense numbers have stirred conversation among fans of Islam Makhachev ahead of their welterweight title bout at UFC 330 on August 15 in Philadelphia. The Irish challenger stopped 15 of 17 takedown attempts across his last two fights with top grapplers Shavkat Rakhmonov and Belal Muhammad, MMA Mania reports.

Garry absorbed just two of ten shots from Rakhmonov at UFC 310, then blanked Muhammad entirely in Qatar, going seven-for-seven on sprawls. Those performances underpin his claim that he presents a stylistic puzzle for the champion. "I'm tricky on the feet, I'm tricky on the ground," Garry told Ariel Helwani. "I'm hard to touch, I'm hard to control. I'm hard to predict what I'm going to do."

Why Garry believes he's the trickiest matchup for Makhachev

The challenger pointed to his reach and elusiveness as factors that complicate Makhachev's usual formula. Garry stands six-foot-three and defends 80 percent of all takedown tries across his UFC run, while absorbing 2.86 significant strikes per minute and avoiding 52 percent of incoming volume. Makhachev's defensive numbers are sharper at 1.45 significant strikes absorbed per minute and 61 percent strike defense, but his game depends heavily on mat returns to wear opponents down.

Garry suggested Makhachev's call for a title defense against Kamaru Usman signaled unease. "Does that make sense?" he said, per MMA Mania. "He knows I'm long, I'm tall. I'm fast. I'm rangy." Makhachev moved up to welterweight last fall and took the belt from Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 322, extending his win streak to 16 and tying Anderson Silva's record. Garry rebounded from his decision loss to Rakhmonov with back-to-back wins over Carlos Prates and Muhammad to earn the shot.

UFC 330 streams on Paramount Plus from Xfinity Mobile Arena with the welterweight strap on the line.

Reported via:

• MMA Mania — Islam fans starting to panic after realizing UFC 330’s Ian Garry ‘stopped 15 of 17 takedowns from Shavkat and Belal’