UFC Hall of Famer: 'Problem solver' Ian Machado Garry could give Islam Makhachev issues

Rashad Evans sees Ian Machado Garry as a solid test for UFC welterweight champion Islam Makhachev.

>Machado Garry (17-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) challenges Makhachev (28-1 MMA, 17-1 UFC) for the welterweight title in the UFC 330 main event on Aug. 15 at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia (Paramount+).

>Machado Garry is a sizable underdog against former two-division UFC champ Makhachev, but Evans thinks the Irishman's ability to make reads during the fight makes things interesting.

>"This is a lot better fight than I initially thought," Evans said on UFC on Paramount+. "We know that Islam has morphed into so much more than being that dominant grappler, right? His striking and his kicks, all the aspects of his game is on another level, but there's something about Ian Garry's game that I feel is hard to get past.

>"I feel like one thing that Ian does really well is that he makes adjustments really good on the fly. He's a problem solver, and I feel like that gives a little issue. He's got some sneaky power, he's got some accuracy, he's got some tricky things that he does."

>Although Machado Garry rebounded from his lone-career loss to Shavkat Rakhmonov with back-to-back wins over Carlos Prates and former champion Belal Muhammad, Evans wonders how he will respond when Makhachev tests his mettle.

>"But I'll say one that that doesn't go in his favor is sometimes you'll see him in a fight and things are not going his way, and he'll concede to it in a sense," Evans continued. "The Shavkat fight, it wasn't going his way, and I seen him making adjustments, but then after that, he was just kind of like content to kind of like, oh well. Maybe that's the fight that changed him, but I feel like that's the only thing in his game that I see is going to be a problem facing Makhachev. I mean he has a ground problem to work through, but Garry's tough. He's long and he's scrappy."

>This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC Hall of Famer sees Machado Garry giving Makhachev trouble