{"id":630497,"date":"2026-04-26T20:31:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T20:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/630497\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T20:31:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T20:31:32","slug":"islam-makhachevs-reported-ufc-welterweight-title-defense-reignites-huge-ufc-rivalry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/630497\/","title":{"rendered":"Islam Makhachev&#8217;s Reported UFC Welterweight Title Defense Reignites Huge UFC Rivalry"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"4y\">The UFC&#8217;s summer schedule is beginning to take shape, as is a reportedly planned UFC 330 main event in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/fannation\/mma\/ufc-finally-returns-to-a-city-it-hasn-t-visited-in-years-01kp6y0a6rtv\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Philadelphia, PA., Saturday, Aug. 15.<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"51\">According to <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/KOlmeneroMMA\/status\/2048016677653401819?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Eurosports&#8217; \u00c1lvaro Colmenero,<\/a> the UFC is trying to set up Islam Makhachev&#8217;s first UFC welterweight title defense against Irish superstar Ian Machado Garry to top the UFC&#8217;s first event with a championship fight in Philadelphia since Aug. 2009.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"54\">&#8220;I said it a while back, but the fight that&#8217;s being negotiated is Islam Makhachev vs. Ian Garry, according to my sources,&#8221; Colmenero tweeted Saturday morning. &#8220;[Michael] Morales is already out of this title shot. Presumably, it&#8217;ll be in August in Philadelphia, at UFC 330, though Islam [Makhachev] has already pointed toward the IFW in some message.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"57\">The UFC has yet to confirm Colmenero&#8217;s reporting, but what it did cause is mass confusion between Makhachev and Garry across social media.<\/p>\n<p>Ian Garry Awaits Islam Makhachev Fight<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01kq5fag9n1re4nwqdhn.jpg\" alt=\"Garry after UFC Kansas City.\" title=\"Garry after UFC Kansas City.\" width=\"2564\" height=\"1442\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"5k\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Apr 26, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, UNITED STATES; Ian Machado Garry (red gloves) reacts after defeating Carlos Prates (not pictured) during UFC Fight Night at T-Mobile Center. Mandatory Credit: William Purnell-Imagn Images | William Purnell-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5o\">\u201cFirst you say you have a hand injury, Dana said August, you\u2019re saying July \u2014 I\u2019ve been ready since you last turned me down in May,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/vqc4HIuMnl\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Garry tweeted. <\/a> &#8220;We\u2019re all waiting on you, princess.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5r\">Makhachev, meanwhile, responded almost immediately.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5u\">\u201cDon\u2019t worry about my injuries,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MAKHACHEVMMA\/status\/2047776281647845583?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Makhachev wrote. <\/a>\u201cI\u2019m ready at any time. I\u2019m waiting for the contract.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5x\">The UFC has yet to announce a main event for either UFC 329, set for Saturday, July 11, in Las Vegas, or UFC 330. But the suspense of Dagestan vs. Ireland can only be traced back to one UFC rivalry \u2014 arguably the biggest ever \u2014 between <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/fannation\/mma\/ufc\/how-ufc-can-make-the-biggest-fight-since-conor-vs-khabib\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Could Makhachev-Garry Become New Nurmagomedov-McGregor Rivalry?<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01kq5fd8fxa0q4f2032h.jpg\" alt=\"Khabib beat McGregor at UFC 229\" title=\"Khabib beat McGregor at UFC 229\" width=\"4911\" height=\"2762\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"6a\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Oct 6, 2018; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Conor McGregor (blue gloves) taps out against Khabib Nurmagomedov (red gloves) during UFC 229 at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images | Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6e\">Although Nurmagomedov won the lone fight between the pair in Oct. 2018 at UFC 229, bad blood has still spilled over into the present day. While Nurmagomedov is still a victim of McGregor&#8217;s antics without making public discourse about it, McGregor has done the opposite.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6h\">Through a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/fannation\/mma\/news\/khabib-nurmagomedov-recalls-unusual-ufc-229-buildup-against-conor-mcgregor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">series of deleted posts<\/a>, McGregor has made his hatred for Nurmagomedov crystal clear: it&#8217;s never going away. It&#8217;s unclear if the present day version of the rivalry between Makhachev and Garry will reach similar levels, but what is apparent is that Garry is tired of waiting for Makhachev.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6k\">Should the fight become a reality, it&#8217;s likely the war of words has only just begun, as Garry has been clamouring for a title shot for over two years while working his way up the divisional ladder.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-15\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6n\">We&#8217;ll see what happens next. However, it appears both men want a piece of each other.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UFC&#8217;s summer schedule is beginning to take shape, as is a reportedly planned UFC 330 main event&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":630498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,638,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-630497","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-mma","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=630497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/630498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=630497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=630497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}