Alexander Volkanovski doesn’t see Ian Machado Garry stopping Islam Makhachev‘s grappling.
Welterweight champion Makhachev (28-1 MMA, 17-1 UFC) makes his first title defense against Machado Garry (17-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 330 (Paramount+) main event at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia. Machado Garry defended all seven of former UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad‘s takedown attempts.
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Volkanovski, who fought Makhachev twice, highlighted where the champion has the most success in his wrestling.
“How does Islam get it to the ground? He has most success when he gets to the hips or the legs,” Volkanovski said on his YouTube channel. “Anywhere from the hips under. So, if he grabs a foot and then even if he grabs the knee, and they’re hopping on the one foot, he’s good with his trips. Again, the body lock, Ian Garry does a great job of sagging, getting him out of position, and slowly breaking the grips and keeping them grips broken, making it hard to chain from there. Islam is going to do a way better job of chaining in them positions than Shavkat.
“So, don’t be surprised if Islam still has success in those positions, but be prepared for Ian Garry to have some success in the wall work, in the body lock position, when he’s pressed up on the fence. I think majority of the time he’s going to be pretty safe. And if he’s doing the right things, Islam won’t waste too much energy going for something that’s not there, but I believe he will eventually get the takedowns, and that’s where he can win rounds or even get the finish.”
Makhachev vs. Machado Garry prediction
Machado Garry has just one loss in his career, and it came by decision. However, Volkanovski ultimately sees Makhachev overwhelming the Irish fighter and stopping him.
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“I think Islam is going to get the win,” Volkanovski said. “He can definitely get the submission finish. I think he can get it to the ground. I can see Ian Garry having success in some of his stand up, some of the wall work stuff. I think he will mix it up, try and stay very low and be very patient. He’s going to have to play a boring style to be very effective and try to do it for 25 minutes. It’s going to be hard. I’m going to have to go Islam. I think he eventually gets it down, he’ll win rounds because of that, and not only that, he can get the finish.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Alexander Volkanovski: Islam Makhachev ‘can definitely’ submit Ian Machado Garry
