Islam Makhachev respects all of his opponents, but that doesn't mean he needs to express those feelings at the beginning and end of every single round.

But that's exactly what Ian Machado Garry did on Saturday night as he was constantly shaking Makhachev's hand, hugging him or dapping him up during their fight. Garry apparently even offered words of encouragement at certain points during the five-round battle, and while Makhachev appreciated his opponen's graciousness, he wishes that was all saved until the UFC 330 fight was over.

“Honestly, I don't understand,†Makhachev said about Garry's actions during the UFC 330 post-fight press conference. “This is a fight. This is not something we have to hug each other every round. We're going to war. We're going to break the face, to break the eye. I respect all my opponents. But [maybe he's young]. He respects too much.

“I respect him. He's a good guy. Very kind. But this is a war. Look at my face. I just come to beat everything. It's not something you have to play. This is a fight. This is not a game.â€

While Garry's actions didn't change the result in the fight, Makhachev gave him credit for a job well done on Saturday night.

Throughout the 25 minute battle, Garry showcased solid takedown defense while stopping Makhchev from ever getting close to a potential submission.

That said, Makhachev was growing frustrated with Garry's refusal to really engage with him, which made it that much harder for him to set up grappling exchanges or other parts of his game plan he wanted to execute.

“Ian is a good opponent,†Makhachev said. “Very hard to fight with someone who stands and waits. He's just waiting and very hard to show a good performance with someone like that. He stands, I see his leg, I try to take him down. He has some good defense but very hard to show a good performance with someone like that.â€

Makhachev also said there were some slightly dirty moves happening in the octagon at UFC 330, especially when Garry apparently head butted him when they were battling for position on the ground.

When the fight ended, Makhachev realized that his nose was busted up and he believes that was a direct result of the blow Garry landed after they hit the ground during a takedown.

“He gave me too many scratches,†Makhachev said. “He gave me a very hard head butt at the end of the fourth round when I made him slam, you can see he gave me a back head butt. In the fight, I don't remember when my nose is bleeding and right away the blood is coming out. I thought maybe I broke the nose or something.

“He gave me a very hard head butt. It's OK. Hard fight. It makes you improve and I feel I improved.â€

As far as the future goes, Makhachev isn't slowing down or capping how many more fights he might have before retirement. Instead, the reigning UFC welterweight champion is already thinking about how he can get better from this performance and prepare for his next opponent as soon as he's healthy and ready to go again.

“I still have to gain some weight, try to be more big, more power and I have time,†Makhachev said. “What this fight showed me and showed everybody, it's not my hardest fight. It doesn't matter how this fight is going to go, easy or hard, from the first minute to the last minute to the last second, I'm going to war. I'm going to fight every second.â€

Islam Makhachev now holds the record for the most consecutive wins in UFC history with 17 in a row after he defeated Ian Machado Garry in a back-and-forth battle in the main event at UFC 330.

The previous record for 16 in a row was held by Anderson Silva but now Makhachev stands alone while also defending his welterweight title for the first time.

It was a grueling fight that Makhachev had to gut out the victory after he nearly scored a finish early on when he clipped Garry with a head kick that sent the Irishman crashing to the canvas. Garry survived and gave Makhachev everything he could handle but the Russian's wrestling, grappling and ground control were just too much to overcome.

When it was over the judges scored the fight 49-46, 49-46 and 48-47 with Makhachev getting the unanimous decision victory.

“Ian is a great fighter, a good man and I just respect him,†Makhachev said after the victory. “He gave me a hard time but I still prove every fight. Thank you for this match. Maybe in Australia, the first one [with Alexander Volkanovski], it's also very hard. I feel guys have more power [at welterweight], very hard to submit them but still my game is working.â€

As for Garry, he offered no excuses in defeat and repeatedly praised Makhachev's team as the best in the world.

“Nothing surprised me,†Garry said after suffering just the second loss of his career. “I have nothing but respect for Islam. I believed in my heart and my soul I was better than him tonight. He won. I have no complaints. No excuses. This is the best camp of my life. I'm proud of my team.

“This man won tonight. I'm OK. I can take that on my sleeve, regroup and get better. I'll be back.â€

Some early leg kicks led to Makhachev diving for a single-leg and putting Garry on the ground early in the opening round. Makhachev maintained control as he sought to take Garry's back while peppering the challenger with knees.

Garry did manage to get back to his feet but he couldn't break Makhachev's hand control as the first round came to an end.

On the restart, Garry opened with kicks including one going up to the head and an oblique kick trying to go after Makhachev's knee. Makhachev ended up grabbing the Muay Thai plum to throw knees and on separation, the welterweight champion threw a head kick that stunned Garry and send him crashing to the ground.

Makhachev immediately secured a takedown and moved into side control where he began raining down punches and elbows. Garry survived but Makhachev made quite a statement with the head kick in the second round.

It didn't take long for Makhachev to secure another takedown but Garry managed to reverse positions to escape and get back to his feet. Garry started throwing more kicks as he tried to maintain his reach advantage and Makhachev was suddenly operating on his backfoot.

The fourth round opened with Garry slamming home a body kick as he continued gaining momentum over the champion. Makhachev finally shot inside and secured another takedown as Garry worked to get back to his feet.

That led to Makhachev getting a underneath Garry, lifting him into the air and bringing him crashing back down to the canvas. Garry kept trying to break free but Makhachev maintained control while attempting to drag him back down again.

With five minutes remaining, Garry stung Makhachev with a stiff punch to open the round followed by a nasty body kick. A takedown from Makhachev was quickly countered by Garry as they battled for position against the cage.

But Makhachev finally exploded and secured the takedown before taking Garry's back on the ground. Makhachev latched onto the body triangle while trying to set up submissions and Garry was stuck hand fighting just to prevent getting caught in something.

With time running out, Makhachev started punching from the back and Garry just couldn't escape and that effectively ended the fight.

While not his most impressive showing, Makhachev showed he can find a way to win even if some of his best and most effective weapons get neutralized. He maintains his position as welterweight champion and undoubtedly proves again he's the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the sport.

Meanwhile, Garry may have suffered a loss but he still showed he belongs in there with the best of the best and considering his performance, there's a good chance it won't take him that long to earn another shot at welterweight gold.