Charles Oliveira is not treating Ian Machado Garry’s UFC 330 title shot as a wild upset flyer. Oliveira has felt Islam Makhachev’s pressure in a championship fight, and that is why his read on Garry carries more weight than normal teammate confidence.
Garry challenges Makhachev for the UFC welterweight title on August 15, 2026, at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia. The matchup gives Makhachev a chance to move past Anderson Silva’s all-time UFC winning-streak mark, while Garry gets his first shot at gold after working with Oliveira and Chute Boxe in Sao Paulo.
Oliveira made the comments in an interview with MMA Fighting.
Oliveira said Garry knew the matchup was coming after his win over Belal Muhammad, and he framed the title camp as something that has been building for months instead of a short-notice sprint.
“He knew he was next in line for the title. And he’s been completely focused on this matchup with Makhachev ever since.”
The former lightweight champion also pointed to the part of Garry’s game that does not show up cleanly on a tale-of-the-tape graphic: he studies, listens, and keeps the fight where the team wants it.
FLYING INTO PHILLY WITH TWO TITLE FIGHTS
@MAKHACHEVMMA vs @IanGarryMMA
@MackenzieDern vs @Savage_UFC[ #UFC330 is LIVE AUGUST 15 on @ParamountPlus ]
— UFC (@ufc) June 17, 2026
That is the base of Oliveira’s prediction. He gives Garry a real shot because the Irish challenger is not just athletic at 170 pounds. Oliveira described him as a strategic fighter who can stay disciplined even when the fight starts forcing uncomfortable choices.
“Ian truly has a very good chance of beating Makhachev. I’m not saying that because he’s my friend or because he’s part of our team, but because of what we’ve seen and how he’s been training.
“We know there’s an incredibly tough guy on the other side, someone who deserves all the respect in the world. He’s humble when promoting a fight, but he’s extremely difficult to deal with inside the cage. He’s outstanding, a really tough fighter. But honestly, in my opinion, Ian has a great chance of winning, because he’s such a strategic fighter and never abandons the game plan.”
Oliveira Sees A Camp Built For One Opponent
Oliveira’s own history with Makhachev is the obvious reason this matters. Makhachev submitted him in the second round at UFC 280 in October 2022 to win the vacant lightweight title, then turned that belt into one of the strongest runs of the modern era before moving to welterweight.
Instead of framing that loss as a simple warning, Oliveira said time in the cage with Makhachev gave him and the coaches useful details. Garry has been part of those conversations, and Oliveira said the team has been talking through ideas, reactions, and adjustments while Garry sharpens the pieces he already trusts.
“Whether you win or lose, once you’ve shared the cage with someone, you come away with certain insights. And especially by watching fights. Ian is a very strategic guy, he studies a lot. Ian brings a lot to the table. We also contribute a lot, and the team is constantly talking, ‘What do you think about this, about that?’ Honestly, Ian is very well prepared.
“He’s really happy to have this opportunity to fight for the title. And I think the most important thing is that, ever since he won his last fight, Ian already knew he was next. He already knew who his opponent was going to be. So Ian didn’t just start this training camp now, he’s been in camp and focused on this fight for a long time already. Ian keeps getting better every day. He’s happier. He understands the opportunity in front of him.
“He knows the weapons he has, and he knows the quality of his jiu-jitsu.”
Oliveira also pushed back on the idea that Garry only started building this camp late. His view is that Garry has lived with this assignment for months, understood the opponent early, and has improved day by day because the title shot became the daily target instead of a sudden fight-week storyline.
The specific trait Oliveira kept returning to was discipline, which is especially important against Makhachev because one bad exchange can turn into minutes of defensive grappling, fence work, or a submission sequence.
“The difference with Ian is his intelligence. He never strays from the strategy. Whatever the team plans together with him for the fight, he’ll follow it from start to finish. That’s what sets Ian apart. Once he commits the game plan to his mind, he’ll stick with it all the way through. He won’t change it. That’s the difference Ian brings into the game, into the cage. That’s what makes us happy, because he never drifts away from the plan or loses focus. He gives himself to it 100%.
“He sticks to the strategy no matter what’s happening, so I think it’s going to be a great fight.”
Records And History Around UFC 330
Makhachev enters at 28-1 and already owns UFC gold in two divisions. His lightweight title run included the Oliveira submission, two Alexander Volkanovski fights, Dustin Poirier, and Renato Moicano before he moved up and beat Jack Della Maddalena for the welterweight belt.
Garry is 17-1 and brings a very different problem than the lightweights Makhachev handled during that run. He is long for welterweight, moves well in open space, and has rebuilt momentum since the Shavkat Rakhmonov loss by beating Carlos Prates and then former champion Belal Muhammad.
Oliveira’s own record stands at 37-11 with one no contest, which makes this more than a teammate quote. He is a former UFC lightweight champion, he knows exactly what Makhachev does after the first clean tie-up, and he has been one of the most important experienced voices around Garry’s title camp.
The wider UFC 330 story has already moved in multiple directions. Makhachev vs. Garry was announced with two title fights in Philadelphia, Makhachev has mocked Garry’s movement and joked about Oliveira’s grappling help, and Jorge Masvidal has already picked Makhachev by choke. Oliveira is now giving the opposite corner’s answer from inside Garry’s preparation.
