Two UFC champions looked to defend their titles for the first time at UFC 330, though the circumstances between the main and co-main event were rather distinct.
While Islam Makhachev was making his first defense at welterweight, the former lightweight champion had defended his 155lb title a record-tying four consecutive times prior to vacating it and moving up a weight class last year. In essence, Makhachev, a teammate and now student of Khabib Nurmagomedov, was fighting for legacy. And coincidentally, a victory on Saturday would give the champ the exact same number of wins Khabib had retired with: 29. It simply took one more fight for Makhachev to reach that mark, though he’d won two major titles along the way.
Looking to throw the proverbial wrench in the works was Ian Machado Garry, an Irish star with just a lone loss on his own professional record. Comparisons to Conor McGregor had come early and often, but Garry had blazed a path to the title based on his own merit.
The co-main event saw Mackenzie Dern looking to defend the strawweight title she’d claimed in a fight with Virna Jandiroba, after Weili Zhang had vacated and moved to flyweight to challenge Valentina Shevchenko. Challenger Gillian Robertson, the UFC women’s submission leader (and tied with Amanda Nunes for finishes) had taken the long road to a title shot, and was fighting in UFC fight #21.
Following UFC 330, tune in above for the night’s post-fight press conference to stay on top of all the latest news.
