Oliveira Backs Ian Machado Garry to End Makhachev's Reign at UFC 330

Islam Makhachev choked out Charles Oliveira to open his lightweight reign back in 2022. On Aug. 15 in Philadelphia, Oliveira's own teammate gets a crack at returning the favor — Ian Machado Garry steps in to challenge the two-division champion for the welterweight belt at UFC 330. And according to Oliveira, don't sleep on the Irishman.

Garry punched his ticket by beating former champ Belal Muhammad (24-6, 5 KO, 1 SUB) in November 2025, and Oliveira says his Chute Boxe stablemate has been locked in on Makhachev ever since the win. "Ian truly has a very good chance of beating Makhachev," Oliveira told MMA Fighting, insisting the read isn't just loyalty talking — it's based on how Garry has looked in camp.

The stakes stretch beyond one belt. Makhachev arrives on a 16-fight tear and can break Anderson Silva's all-time UFC record of 17 straight at UFC 331 in Los Angeles on Sept. 19. Garry stands directly in the way of history.

The Résumé Problem

Makhachev didn't back into this. He beat Alexander Volkanovski, Dustin Poirier and Oliveira himself at 155 pounds, then moved up and dethroned Jack Della Maddalena at welterweight — a week before Garry handled Muhammad. Oliveira knows the Russian firsthand, and he's not pretending otherwise. He described Makhachev as humble on the mic but brutally difficult once the cage closes, a fighter who deserves every ounce of respect.

Here's the wrinkle: Oliveira and his Sao Paulo coaches once built a camp for Makhachev in the past, and he believes that inside knowledge is now feeding directly into Garry's preparation. Sharing a cage with someone leaves you with insights, Oliveira said, and the team has been picking apart tape and trading ideas throughout the buildup.

The pitch Oliveira keeps returning to is discipline. He praised Garry's jiu-jitsu and, more than anything, his refusal to abandon a game plan mid-fight. Once Garry commits a strategy to memory, Oliveira says, he executes it start to finish without drifting. Against a grappler as suffocating as Makhachev, sticking to the script isn't a nice-to-have — it's the entire fight.

Whether that intelligence translates into the first blemish on Makhachev's welterweight run is the question that'll define UFC 330. Garry's been in this camp mentally since the moment the Muhammad fight ended. Now he finds out if preparation beats a champion who hasn't lost in six years.