Dominick Cruz picks Ian Machado Garry to edge out Islam Makhachev at UFC 330

Dominick Cruz is going against the oddsmakers in the UFC 330 main event.

Ian Machado Garry (17-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) is a big underdog against welterweight champion Islam Makhachev (28-1 MMA, 17-1 UFC) on Saturday (Paramount+) at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia. Cruz thinks Machado Garry is a very hard fight for Makhachev. He compared the matchup to Justin Gaethje's lightweight title upset over Ilia Topuria, and Gaethje's ability to wear the damage from a former featherweight in Topuria.

While Makhachev is a dominant force on the ground, Cruz believes Machado Garry has the ability to lure him into a standup battle.

"Ian Garry is good at making people fight his style of fight," Cruz said. "Shavkat (Rakhmonov) beat him, but still that was close, and Shavkat was able to beat him at his own game. Can Makhachev do that? I don't know. It's a great fight."

The former UFC bantamweight champion mapped out how he sees Machado Garry achieving that.

"Ian Garry wants to keep this an uncomfortable fight for Makhachev," Cruz said. "And the easiest way to do that is to stop the first three takedowns of every round and keep the distance where Ian Garry is comfortable and Makhachev wants to get closer. The more he can do that, the further away that Ian Garry can get ahead on the scorecards, I think. On the other end, if Makhachev can take him down in the first three takedowns, it goes the other way."

Cruz respects that Makhachev has stayed true to himself while continuing to win but ultimately sees Machado Garry's size being too much.

"I do think that moving up a weight class and fighting Ian Garry, I do see a good chance of a potential upset for sure," Cruz said. "And I think the betting lines are going to get a lot more even when the fight gets closer. I think he's going to be huge, like big next to Makhachev. I could see an upset happening, yeah. I see a decision, maybe even a split. More than likely a split decision win for Ian Garry if I had to guess."

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Dominick Cruz picks Ian Machado Garry to edge out Islam Makhachev at UFC 330