Islam Makhachev aims for UFC record 17th straight win in title defense

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Islam Makhachev seemingly took offense and cut off a question about Ian Machado Garry potentially serving as his toughest challenger to date.

“No, it's not going to be my biggest challenge,” Makhachev said. “He's just good, you know? I give him respect. He has good skills. But everybody knows my game.”

Fight fans know Makhachev as a two-division champion and reigning title holder at 170 pounds.

They might soon know Makhachev as the fighter with the longest winning streak in UFC history.

Makhachev can indeed topple Anderson Silva and set the UFC record for most consecutive wins at 17 should he defeat Machado Garry in the main event title fight at UFC 330 on Saturday night in Philadelphia.

Makhachev (28-1) has not lost since UFC 192 in 2015 and has gone on from that defeat to win the UFC lightweight title in 2022. He made four straight successful title defenses before he surrendered the title. Makhachev won the welterweight crown in his first attempt when he beat Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 322 in November 2025.

The win put Makhachev on par with Silva, a Hall of Famer who won a championship match in UFC's first Philadelphia show in 2009.

Makhachev joined a short list in UFC history — the company was founded in 1993 — of male fighters who won championships in two weight classes. The others: Henry Cejudo, Daniel Cormier, Randy Couture, Georges St-Pierre, B.J. Penn, Conor McGregor, Jon Jones, Alex Pereira and Ilia Topuria.

The 34-year-old Makhachev is smart enough to know that, even as a heavy betting favorite to defend his title, Machado Garry is more than “just good."

Machado Garry (17-1) just might be the biggest threat yet to end Makhachev's winning streak and walk out of Philadelphia as the new champion. His only career loss came in a 2024 decision, and he rebounded with two straight wins that thrust the Irishman into a title fight against Makhachev.

“For me to go out there against him, who many consider to be a generational talent, they're starting to talk about him in the GOAT conversation,” Machado Garry said, “for me to go out there and have that as the challenge that I have to go out there and beat to prove I'm not only the champion of the world, but I really truly am the best on the planet, that's what I want.”

Machado Garry lacks a finishing punch but has enough of a versatile skill set to win the bulk of his fights by decision. He is not the near the elite level of wrestler of Makhachev and has to stay on his feet to keep the fight in his favor. Machado Garry does have about 4 inches in height and reach to the challenger.

“He acts like he's a bad boy,” Makhachev said. “We will make him humble. We will make him a good guy.”

Mackenzie Dern (16-5-0) is set for her first title defense after she won the vacant strawweight belt in her last fight at UFC 321.

She already had to make one adjustment as the champ.

“It's definitely a little bit different doing the faceoffs with the belt in my hand,” Dern said. “I'm like, how do I shake her hand? Just getting used to having the belt over my shoulder most of the week during fight week.”

Gillian Robertson (17-8) holds the record for the most UFC submission wins by a woman and has won five straight fights going back to 2024. Robertson has won five straight bouts and six of seven overall since returning to the strawweight division and she is tied with Amanda Nunes for the most overall finishes on the women’s side of the sport with 10.

UFC is running only its third numbered card in Philadelphia.

UFC 101 was held in August 2009, and UFC 133 was in August 2011.

Justin Gaethje, who won the lightweight title in the main event of the June card at the South Lawn of the White House in front of President Donald Trump, beat Edson Barboza in a 2019 Fight Night event on ESPN.

Barboza is back on Saturday's 330 card and fights Esteban Ribovics in a lightweight bout.

Machado Garry thought his title fight deserved a location more associated with big-time UFC bouts such as Las Vegas. He came around to Philadelphia once he brushed up on the city's fight history — though boxing is more the name of the game, and the city boasts statues of Joe Frazier and the fictional Rocky Balboa.

“Philadelphia is going to have a special place in my heart come Saturday night for the rest of my life because it's where I'm going to win a world title,” Machado Garry said.

One fight of note on the main card includes Dustin Stoltzfus, a native of Amish country in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, taking on Mansur Abdul-Malik in a middleweight bout.

“I love this area,” Stoltzfus said. “Less Philadelphia. I'm more of a country bumpkin from Lancaster."

AP MMA: https://apnews.com/hub/mixed-martial-arts

FILE - Mackenzie Dern, from the United States, celebrates after defeating countrywoman Amanda Cooper during their UFC women's strawweight mixed martial arts bout in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, early Sunday, May 13, 2018. (AP Photo/Leo Correa, file)

FILE - Gillian Robertson weighs in ahead of her UFC strawweight bout in Toronto Friday, Jan. 19, 2024. (Cole Burston/The Canadian Press via AP, file)

FILE - Ian Machado Garry celebrates a win against Neil Magny during a UFC 292 mixed martial arts fight, Saturday, August 19, 2023, in Boston. (AP Photo/Gregory Payan, file)

FILE - Russia's Islam Makhachev leaves a welterweight title bout after defeating Australia's Jack Della Maddalena at the UFC 322 mixed martial arts event, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, file)

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are drifting around their record heights Friday following the latest report on the economy to come in surprisingly weak, this time about how much shoppers are spending at retailers. Such data could keep interest rates low, which is something Wall Street loves, but it also raises the risk of a worst-case economic scenario of slow growth and high inflation.

The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged, coming off its all-time high set the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 24 points, or less than 0.1%, as of 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.2% lower.

Treasury yields were also mixed in the bond market after a report showed shoppers spent less at U.S. retailers last month than the month before. That surprised economists, who were forecasting another month of growth.

On the bright side for financial markets, such a pullback in spending could take pressure off inflation. Inflation remains much higher than anyone would like, but reports earlier this week suggested the pace of increases in prices is decelerating.

If inflation keeps trending that way, it could encourage the Federal Reserve to hold off on hikes to interest rates. Higher rates would help keep a lid on inflation, but they do so by intentionally slowing the economy and making it more expensive for everyone to borrow money.

But the downside of such data, including last week’s surprisingly weak report on the U.S. job market, is that they also raise the risk of a slowing economy. The Fed has no good tool to fix both a stagnating economy and high inflation at the same time, which is why what’s called “stagflation” is seen as a worst-case scenario.

Some on Wall Street cautioned against overreacting to the weak data on U.S. retail sales, even if it was broad based. It could simply be a snap back after retail sales in earlier months were boosted by unusual factors such as big tax refunds, the World Cup and even an earlier Prime Day event at Amazon, according to Jennifer Timmerman, senior investment strategy analyst at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

U.S. consumers nevertheless appear to be getting more discouraged about the economy. A preliminary survey by the University of Michigan suggested sentiment among them is weakening by more than economists expected.

The survey said drops occurred across the political spectrum and showed up particularly among older, lower-income and other groups who can be hurt most by inflation.

On Wall Street, Reddit jumped 13% after learning its stock will join the S&P 500 index on Tuesday. Many professional investors and funds closely track the index, either mimicking it or at least measuring their performance against it. That can push many investors to buy a stock automatically when it enters the index.

Applied Materials fell 4.9% even though the company, whose technology helps make semiconductors, reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Gary Dickerson said global hunger for artificial-intelligence technology helped it deliver another record quarter.

But its stock had already more than doubled this year and built expectations very high, which helped pressure the stock on Friday.

AI stocks in general have been swinging sharply on worries that their prices shot too high because of AI euphoria and that their strong growth in revenue may not be sustainable.

In the oil market, prices were relatively steady following big recent swings as hopes rose and fell about when the war with Iran will allow tankers to carry crude again from the Middle East again to customers worldwide. The price for a barrel of Brent crude rose 0.4% to $87.46 after drifting earlier between gains and losses.

In the bond market, shorter-term Treasury yields eased following the retail sales report, suggesting traders see the Fed as less likely to hike interest rates at its next meeting in September.

But the yield on the 10-year Treasury, which moves more on expectations for inflation and economic growth in upcoming years, rose to 4.66% from 4.63% late Thursday.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe and Asia.

London’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.1% after Nigel Farage regained the seat in Parliament he quit a month ago, beating trash-can wearing comic candidate Count Binface in a special election.

South Korea’s Kospi again had one of the world’s sharpest moves and jumped 2.4% for its third straight gain of at least that much. Seoul has been at the center of the world’s swings for artificial-intelligence stocks because its market is dominated by two tech giants, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

AP Business Writers Michelle Chapman and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.

Trader Fred Demarco, right, and Specialist Michael Pistillo, left, work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Aug. 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Traders Daniel Kryger, right, and Aman Patel, left, work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Aug. 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

A general view shows the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Aug. 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

A person walks in front of an electronic stock chart board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A person walk in front of an electronic stock chart board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A currency trader watches monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Aug. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders work at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Aug. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A screen shows the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics Co. stock price at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Aug. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)