{"id":222620,"date":"2026-06-18T21:25:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T21:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/222620\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T21:25:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T21:25:07","slug":"ufc-330-fight-card-main-co-main-events-announced-for-philadelphia-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/222620\/","title":{"rendered":"UFC 330 fight card: Main, co-main events announced for Philadelphia return"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coming off one of the biggest weekends in the history of the UFC<\/a>. The MMA<\/a> leader wasted no time keeping the fans fed, announcing the main and co-main events for UFC 330.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The August numbered event features the UFC\u2019s return to Philadelphia. The first time fighting in the city of brotherly love since 2019. Ironically enough, the last time the UFC was in Philly, Justin Gaethje was in the main event. Gaethje knocked out Edson Barbosa on the night, and Edson Barbosa is also on this Philadelphia card.<\/p>\n

MORE: UFC power rankings following UFC Freedom 250<\/a><\/p>\n

With the UFC is now returning to Philadelphia for the first time in seven years. The UFC had to bring big matchups, and they certainly have.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Welterweight title: Islam Makhachev vs Ian Machado Garry\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Apr 26, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, UNITED STATES; Ian Machado Garry (red gloves) fights Carlos Prates (blue gloves) during UFC Fight Night at T-Mobile Center. Mandatory Credit: William Purnell-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The main event of UFC 330 features the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world, Welterweight Champion Islam Makhachev. The first title defense for Makhachev comes against Ireland\u2019s Ian Machado Garry. Garry is the rightful challenger, riding a two-fight win streak, with wins against former champ Belal Muhammad and rising star Carlos Prates.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stylistically, this matchup should be more interesting than Makhachev\u2019s last fight against Jack Della Maddalena. Ian Machado Garry offers a more well-rounded skillset. Primarily a striker, but Garry has an underrated grappling game as well.<\/p>\n

MORE: Ilia Topuria vs arch rival, and more fights to make after UFC Freedom 250<\/a><\/p>\n

No, Ian Machado Garry\u2019s grappling isn\u2019t on the level of Islam Makhachev\u2019s, but in a best-case scenario for Garry, it\u2019s good enough to keep the fight standing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Islam Makhachev is a huge favorite, and rightfully so, but this summer has been the summer of underdogs in the UFC. Just the last two months have been perfect examples of how anything can happen in MMA.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sean Strickland beating Khamzat Chimaev and Justin Gaethje beating Ilia Topuria were massive upsets. Maybe Ian Machado Garry can keep this trend going.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Strawweight title: Makenzie Dern vs Gillian Robertson\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Feb 17, 2024; Anaheim, California, USA; Mackenzie Dern fights against Amanda Lemos during UFC 298 at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

UFC 330\u2019s co-main event features Makenzie Dern\u2019s first title defense. Dern will defend the Strawweight strap against a seasoned veteran in Gillian Robertson. Many thought that Dern\u2019s first title defense would be against former Strawweight Champion Zhang Weili. Since Dern isn\u2019t fighting Weili, it feels like a matchup she can thrive in. Neither Dern nor Robertson is elite in the striking department. Dern can be scrappy on the feet, but like Robertson, operates best on the ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is the first women\u2019s title fight this year, which is a little unusual compared to years past. It makes sense to a degree, though. Women\u2019s Bantamweight Champion Kayla Harrison would\u2019ve fought on the UFC White House card had she not suffered a neck injury.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Coming off one of the biggest weekends in the history of the UFC. The MMA leader wasted no…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222621,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[96828,96541,96542,68902,69,71,70,74817],"class_list":["post-222620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-ian-machado-garry","tag-islam-makhachev","tag-mackenzie-dern","tag-mma","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-ufc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}