Ian Garry is calling his shot ahead of UFC 330, publicly targeting a fourth-round finish over welterweight champion Islam Makhachev in their main event clash on Aug. 15 at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia.
Makhachev enters the title defense with a 28-1 record and is tied with Anderson Silva at 16 for the longest win streak in UFC history. He moved up from lightweight after surrendering his 155-pound belt and captured the welterweight title from Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 322.
Garry, 17-1 and riding a two-fight winning streak following a decision loss to Shavkat Rakhmonov, made it clear he wants a specific kind of statement. “My ideal scenario? I want a fourth-round finish,” Garry said. “I don’t want any early knockout because then there’s ifs, buts, maybes. ‘Ah, there’s excuses.’ I want four rounds of domination. And in that fourth round, I’m going to tell everybody: I’m going to do it now. And then I’m going to go in there and finish him. I’m going to open the door, I’m going to walk him into my traps, and I’m going to take his head clean off his shoulders.”
Garry’s recent wins have come against Carlos Prates and Belal Muhammad, while Makhachev’s welterweight reign began by dethroning Della Maddalena at UFC 322.
