Islam Makhachev is not happy with how he performed in his welterweight debut. Last year, Makhachev, after completing four successful lightweight title defenses, decided to vacate and move up to 170 pounds in pursuit of two-division glory.
Come November 15, 2025, the Russian phenom faced then-welterweight titleholder Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 322. The title bout was a one-sided affair, as Makhachev scored 4 takedowns and racked up more than 19 minutes of control time to cruise to a unanimous decision win and dethrone “JDM.”
Despite such a dominant performance in his divisional debut, the P4P king now says he didn’t like that fight. During a recent sit-down with MMA Junkie, the 34-year-old confessed that since he was fighting to become a two-division UFC champion, he just wanted to win every round and did not take any risks to secure a submission or a knockout.
Makhachev also added that he’s confident that if he and the Aussie lock horns again, he can easily finish Della Maddalena in any round he wants to.
“I watched the fight with Jack. I didn’t like that fight because I just wanted to become a double champion. I was only fighting for the win. I didn’t do certain things to finish Jake because I understood I was winning every round, and I just wanted to take the second belt…. But if it had been a regular fight, or if we fought a second time, I know I could finish him in any round.”
Check out Islam Makhachev’s comments below:
Islam Makhachev vows to take more risks at UFC 330
Islam Makhachev is going to defend his welterweight title later this month at UFC 330 against short-notice risk-taker Ian Machado Garry. During the same MMA Junkie interview, while discussing the Garry clash, Makhachev stated that the Dubliner’s ground game is not that good, and thus once he takes “The Future” down, he can finish him real quick. He added:
“In this fight, I’ll take more risks to finish my opponent because I like to finish my opponents. Honestly, I think from the first time I take him [Ian Machado Garry] down, I’ll have a chance to finish him because I saw his ground game. It’s not that good… He has good striking, a long reach, and long arms. He always moves backward and controls the distance, but I see that once I take him down, it’s going to be over.”
Check out Islam Makhachev’s comments below:
While Garry wants to dominate for the first 15 minutes at UFC 330 and then score a submission or a knockout, Makhachev has predicted the bout will be over before 15 minutes.
