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Two Title Fights Confirmed for UFC 330 in Philly
Published:
Official for South Philly:
Islam Makhachev vs. Ian Garry was the rumored main event for this card, and it is a bona fide banger. Islam is the pound-for-pound #1 fighter in the entire promotion and Garry is 17-1. He is the real deal. This is one of the best title fights you can make across the entire UFC, so we lucked out here.
As for Mackenzie Dern vs. Gillian Robertson, this is aptly slotted as a co-main. It’ll be Dern’s first title defense at 115 pounds, and there wasn’t an intriguing opponent for her outside of Zhang Weili coming back down to Strawweight to try to reclaim the belt. They could have matched up Dern with #2 contender Tatiana Suarez, who is 12-1 and has won two fights since losing to Weili back in 2025. But Robertson is on a five-fight win streak and is a pretty solid fighter herself. It’s not a compelling fight for casuals, but hardcore MMA sickos will find some intrigue here.
The rest of the card hasn’t been announced yet, but it’s quite possible Joe Pyfer or one of the Philly guys gets that third slot, just before the co-main. Apparently Caio Borralho came out and said he was supposed to fight Pyfer in August, but is injured:
Whatever UFC does with the rest of the card, Islam vs. Garry is worth the time no matter what.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com