In addition to the defeat suffered in the main fight of UFC 330 , Ian Garry continues to have to deal with a wave of criticism from various personalities in the world of MMA. Most recently, it was Belal Muhammad 's turn to go public in a YouTube video to give his two cents on the fight last Saturday (15). The analysis was published last Tuesday (18), and the Palestinian had no qualms about addressing the performance of his former opponent.
Like Dana White , the former welterweight champion (up to 77 kg) criticized the challenger's attitude, who chose to shake hands with his opponent several times during the fight, including at the beginning of the fifth round. In the Palestinian's opinion, lasting until the end of regulation time was a kind of success for Garry.
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“What’s with all this hugging? You’re losing in the fifth round. You need to have killer instinct. You have to go for it. His face wasn’t hurt… you were losing. In terms of mentality, he needs to change his mindset. His mentality was ‘I wasn’t submitted, I got up from some takedowns’ — those are victories for him — and he needs to change that. In terms of career value, he’ll learn from this. He’ll evolve, but this sport doesn’t forgive,” he stated.
Belal Muhammad believes Ian Garry wasted his opportunity against Islam Makhachev 👀 pic.twitter.com/nUXdhL6tjs
— Sportskeeda MMA (@sportskeedaMMA) August 18, 2026
Ian Garry could face Michael Morales in the sequel.
Ian Garry confronts Morales backstage at the UFC. Photo: Reproduction/X/FullSendMMA
When considering the Irishman's future in the division, Muhammad warned that mistakes like those made at UFC 330 could not be forgiven against opponents with greater knockout power. Furthermore, he also recalled key moments that favored Makhachev.
“You’re going to face Morales next. You could take just one punch and be knocked out. That head kick Islam landed on you in the second round… if it had knocked you out, it would have changed everything. You can’t waste an opportunity. You can’t waste a moment, and I felt he definitely wasted moments there. The sequence where I thought ‘Islam won this fight’ — obviously, when it got to the fifth round and he took your back, I thought, ‘Ah, it’s over.’ When he locked in the body triangle, I knew the other guy wouldn’t get out of that situation. For Islam, that was the checkmate moment,” he concluded.
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