{"id":38768,"date":"2026-06-13T19:10:49","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T19:10:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Why-Islam-Makhachev-prefers-fighting-undefeated-contender-over-Ian-Garry-201512"},"modified":"2026-06-13T19:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T19:10:49","slug":"why-islam-makhachev-prefers-fighting-undefeated-contender-over-ian-garry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/why-islam-makhachev-prefers-fighting-undefeated-contender-over-ian-garry\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Islam Makhachev prefers fighting undefeated contender over Ian Garry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n


\nUltimate Fighting Championship<\/a> welterweight ace Islam
\nMakhachev<\/a> believes a win over Michael
\nMorales<\/a> adds more to his legacy than a win over Ian
\nGarry<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Makhachev (28-1) is expected to defend his welterweight title in
\nAugust, although an opponent has yet to be finalized. While the
\ndivision is teeming with contenders, Makhachev recently admitted
\nthat Garry is the frontrunner. However, Makhachev would prefer to
\ndefend his title against Morales (19-0) rather than Garry (17-1).
\nMakhachev believes a win over Morales would add more to his legacy,
\nas the Ecuadorian is undefeated, unlike Garry.<\/p>\n

Makhachev was initially looking to defend his title against former
\nchampion Kamaru
\nUsman<\/a>. Everyone, including Usman himself, has counted him out
\nof the race for the title shot. However, Makhachev still believes
\nthat \u201cThe Nigerian Nightmare\u201d beats both Morales and Garry.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we pick between Morales and Ian, to be honest with you, in
\nterms of my legacy, I would go with Morales,\u201d Makhachev told Red
\nCorner MMA. \u201cWhy? Because he’s still undefeated. If I beat Ian
\nGarry, some will say, Shavkat beat him too a few fights ago.\u2019 I
\nagree that they are both rightful contenders. I also don\u2019t write
\noff Kamaru Usman, although everyone else does. But if you match
\nUsman up with those two guys, I don\u2019t think they beat him. I\u2019m
\nleaning towards Usman beating them.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Morales entered the race by knocking out Sean Brady<\/a>
\nat UFC 322 last November, Garry established himself as a contender
\nby beating Belal
\nMuhammad<\/a> a week later. Meanwhile, Carlos
\nPrates<\/a> is also in the title picture with knockout wins over
\nLeon
\nEdwards<\/a> and Jack
\nDella Maddalena<\/a>. However, Prates believes Garry is already set
\nto challenge Makhachev for the title next.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

Islam
\nMakhachev<\/a> says facing the undefeated Michael
\nMorales<\/a> would do more for his legacy than fighting Ian Garry<\/a>.
\n\ud83d\ude32\ud83d\udcaf<\/p>\n

“If we pick between Ian and Morales in terms of my legacy, I would
\ngo with Morales because he’s still undefeated. If I beat Ian Garry<\/a>,
\nsome will say, ‘Shavkat\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/POLje3bGMS<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA)
\nJune 12, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/center> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight ace Islam Makhachev believes a win over Michael Morales adds more to his legacy than a win over Ian Garry. Makhachev (28-1) is expected to defend his welterweight title in August, although an opponent has yet to be finalized. While the division is teeming with contenders, Makhachev recently admitted that Garry […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38769,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}