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UFC welterweight champion Islam Makhachev’s longtime coach believes Ian Machado Garry didn’t need ‘killer instinct’ at UFC 330.

UFC welterweight champ Islam Makhachev defended his title unanimously against Ian Machado Garry last weekend at UFC 330. After becoming the UFC’s latest two-division champ, Makhachev put on another impressive performance to stop Garry’s meteoric rise.

Garry’s pattern of showing respect for Makhachev throughout their fight led UFC CEO Dana White to question his ‘killer instinct’. During the UFC 330 post-fight press conference, White criticized Garry’s last-fight pace, saying if he had a ‘killer instinct’, he could’ve had Makhachev in a lot of trouble.

But Makhachev’s longtime coach doesn’t believe a ‘killer instinct’ would’ve made the difference at UFC 330.

Islam Makhachev’s longtime coach questions Dana White’s ‘killer instinct’ criticism

In a recent interview with Parimach Online Casino, Islam Makhachev’s longtime coach Javier Mendez reacted to White’s post-fight criticism of Garry.

“I think every fighter is different,” Mendez said of Garry’s lack of ‘killer instinct’ against Makhachev.

“I have so many fighters that, if they have that killer instinct, they usually tighten up. They try too hard, whereas if they have a relaxed time, like what he did, it kind of throws you off guard. That’s what he did at the very beginning. He came out, shook everybody’s hands, shook all the coaches’ hands. I’ve never had that happen to me.

“He was smiling like he had this in the bag, and for me, that got me right away. I went, ‘Oh, he’s really confident here. Very, very confident.’ What Dana took one way, I took as super, super confident,” Makhachev’s longtime coach continued on Garry. “I felt he was telling us goodbye, ‘Thank you, guys, but I’m winning this.’ That’s what I felt. He came out with that attitude too. I don’t think it had anything to do with what Dana said. I think that’s just for him to motivate himself, and I think he did fantastic.” (h/t MMA Junkie)

Garry earned recent wins over Belal Muhammad and Carlos Prates before the loss to Makhachev. The 28-year-old has plenty of time to potentially get another shot at UFC gold.

Will Ian Machado Garry fight for a UFC welterweight title again? Let us know your thoughts on his future in the comments!

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