UFC 330 saw Islam Makhachev make history, winning his 17th fight in a row, to break Anderson Silva's record. Oh, he also beat Ian Machado Garry to defend his welterweight title to do so. After the fight, Makhachev said he was targeting 20 consecutive wins, a mark that would be nigh unbeatable. But should he?

Islam seems sensible enough to know when to call it a day and retire. In an ideal world, how many more fights should he take and against whom?

The honest answer is that he should continue fighting for as long as he either wants to or is capable of doing so at a high level. Many fans won't agree, but retiring to preserve a résumé is weak sauce. If he still loves fighting and can still fight, he should keep fighting until such time as one of those two things changes.

But if you are looking at Makhachev's career through the most cynical lens possible and only focused on maximizing legacy and minimizing risk, he should probably fight one more time and then hang up the gloves.

I do not care for Jon Jones, and when he was doing the whole tortured heavyweight title reign, I hated every bit of it. I felt it was a transparently opportunistic farce, and had no respect for it. BUT, I said from the very beginning and have never once changed my mind that it was smart prize fighting.

Waiting until Francis Ngannou left the UFC to move up is just smart. Defending the title against the shell of a former champion is smart. Trying to fight a smaller man who you have a huge stylistic advantage over instead of a bigger, stronger, younger opponent is smart. The man was picking his battles to minimize risk and maximize gain, and in 20 years, most people won't remember that he ducked Tom Aspinall. They'll just see that he was a two-division champion.

Makhachev is in a similar position right now. Not in that his second title run is a farce — far from it, he's the only good double champion in UFC history — but that he can pick and choose his spots, if he wants to. Carlos Prates is a legitimate opponent for Makhachev, but he also appears to be a good matchup for him. Morales, not as much. So if Makhachev beats Prates, the safest course of action would be to then walk away, having done something no one else has done in the men's weight classes (multiple defenses in multiple weight classes) and never run the risk of fighting the younger, stronger challenger.

But if he does stick around and add two more, then his GOAT case becomes extremely strong. So that's sort of the question he has to answer: do you want to try to become a special level of legendary at the risk of losing some of your luster, or quit while you're ahead?

A smart man would choose the latter. Las Vegas is built on men chasing the dragon one too many times, and for as great as Makhachev is, I don't think his target of 20 consecutive wins is achievable. But if he does pull it off, then he probably is just the GOAT. And that's a lot of temptation.

Did you leave UFC 330 more or less convinced either Prates or Morales knocks Makhachev out in his next fight?

Neither. I never thought Prates would, and I still don't. Morales is a total question mark for me, and remains so.

After thinking about this for several days, my biggest takeaway from UFC 330 is not pretty boring: Ian Garry was a horrible style matchup for Islam to look good against. Garry is a defense-first fighter, and considerably larger than Makhachev. There's just no real way to excel against him. If Garry opened up his offense more, that would open up more opportunities for Islam, but he didn't, so we got the fight we got.

Really, the only thing I take from that fight is that Makhachev is still crazy strong at this weight class, even if he's undersized. I still don't think Prates can grapple with him, and that's means he wins. As for Morales, we can all imagine how Morales wins, but we've also never seen him fight a great defensive fighter, or really lose a phase of a fight at all. It's unlikely he bombs Islam out like he did Sean Brady, so how does he react when he's not just the hammer? There are still a ton of questions for Morales.

Is Dern actually as good as she looked in the first two rounds or is Strawweight this bad? Oh how I miss the days of Joanna, Rose pre-Esparza debacle, and peak Weili. Perhaps I'm just too jaded, but 115 feels almost as meh as 135 once you get past Kline and Thainara.

Welcome to the Mackenzie Dern experience!

Seriously, this is who Dern is, and it's why I love her. For stretches of a fight, she looks like a world-beater, and you can understand how she was once the greatest BJJ player in the world. Then for other stretches she looks like she'd get thumped by a random lady in a Wal-Mart parking lot fight. She's the physical embodiment of the Dril Tweet about how there is no difference between good and bad.

But as to your other point, you're not jaded: 115 used to be better. All of women's MMA is in a down period right now, even 115. Granted, it's not as bad as 135, and we do have some young talent emerging, but the weight class is in transition right now. Honestly, it might be better if Zhang Weili didn't come back and simply let strawweight work through this period until Kline can get the title. Otherwise, she'll come back and reclaim the belt, and then Kline will lose, and we'll be stuck here for even longer.

(non-330 related) What is the optimal night for MVPFL: Should they consider Sunday nights instead of Friday?

Back in the day, WWF/WWE had their PPV's on Sunday nights and did well. MVPFL might do better on a slow Sunday evening as a UFC dessert than on a Friday night as a UFC appetizer. People go out more on Fri nights as well. Or do you think another night would be better?

I can't speak to the success of WWE on Sunday nights, but Sunday would be a terrible idea. For one thing, Sunday is a school night. People have to get up early on Monday morning to go to school or work, and they usually don't want to stay up until midnight or later. Even for UFC White House, this was a legitimate problem, with people texting me that they weren't staying up for this.

The other issue with Sunday is that MVPFL is courting the American audience, and for half of the year, Sunday Night Football would counter-program them in the worst way.

The answer is Friday night. It's not perfect, but Saturdays are taken. You can't have Saturdays. But Friday is still a weekend night, and you have no real opposition for American viewing audiences. Friday Night Fights with MVPFL. Just do it.

Thanks for reading, and thank you to everyone who sent in questions! Do you have any burning questions about things at least somewhat related to combat sports? Then you're in luck, because every week I put a prompt into The Feed for your questions. Fire them there, and I'll answer the best ones in the Mailbag and try to get to the rest in the responses.

For Anthony Hernandez, a little home cooking at UFC Sacramento might be exactly what he needs to get himself back on track for a title shot.

Raised in Dunnigan, just a quick trip up the highway from the California capital, Hernandez competes for the first time since a disappointing loss to Sean Strickland this past February. Hernandez saw an eight-fight win streak end and a title shot fall out of reach, but rather than mope about it, “Fluffy†decided to team up with Strickland—who regained the middleweight championship in his next fight—and focus on shoring up the weaknesses that led to his first defeat since 2021.

Gregory Rodrigues stands across from Hernandez in Saturday's headliner, and despite a few uneven results, “Robocop†is also in position to announce himself as a contender having won three straight fights and six of his past seven. If Rodrigues plays the spoiler, he can make a major dent in the middleweight rankings and prove more than a few naysayers wrong about his chances of ever fighting for a UFC belt.

In other notable main card action, Serghei Spivac looks to stop Vitor Petrino from breaking into the heavyweight top 10 and Reinier de Ridder returns to the light heavyweight division when he takes on Roman Dolidze.

Where: Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Calif.

When: Saturday, Aug. 22. The seven-fight early preliminary card begins at 5 p.m. ET, followed by a six-fight main card at 8 p.m. ET. The entire event streams live on Paramount+.

(Numbers in parentheses indicate standing in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings)

Anthony Hernandez (T5) vs. Gregory Rodrigues (15)

Did Sean Strickland teach Anthony Hernandez to watch for the body shots?

During Hernandez's buzzsaw run through the middleweight division, he didn't seem too worried about protecting his vulnerable midsection, as his opponents were usually far too busy dealing with his non-stop pressure to find an angle for a good head-body-head combination. Strickland had Hernandez scouted, though, and an inability to take the fight to the mat and consistently defend himself proved to be Hernandez's outdoing.

Gregory Rodrigues is well-equipped to take similar advantage of Hernandez. He loves to throw heavy hands, but his high-level grappling background should help him foil Hernandez's takedown attempts. The question is for how long?

Hernandez's fast-paced style will be a headache for Rodrigues, who is at his best in more plodding middleweighty duels. I have no doubt Rodrigues will do some damage to Hernandez early, but Hernandez should be the stronger fighter in the championship rounds if the fight gets there.

I've seen Hernandez wear down too many fighters to count him out just because he lost to a two-time UFC champion, even though Rodrigues could absolutely find a finish in the first three rounds. Let's see if Hernandez shows his own championship mettle this time.

Serghei Spivac (13) vs. Victor Petrino

I cannot get a read on Vitor Petrino at all. Moving up from light heavyweight was obviously the right move for the hard-hitting Brazilian, who is 3-0 in the big boy division, but how much weight do we lend to wins over Steven Asplund (respect), Thomas Petersen (meh), and Austen Lane (meeeeeeh)? Serghei Spivac is the perfect test for him right now.

Spivac is essentially the new Marcin Tybura. He's clearly a notch above the mid-tier of the heavyweight division and capable of producing some impressive finishes, but it feels like we have a firm grasp of his ceiling, which is to be a mainstay in the top 10 without ever receiving serious title consideration. And there's nothing wrong with that!

As far as how he handles Petrino, it's no secret he'll go for takedowns early and often and look to punish Petrino on the ground. I'm curious to see if Petrino initiates the grappling first to slow Spivac's offense before it even gets started, but it's more likely Petrino works to win a standup battle. As I said, I still can't get a proper gauge of Petrino's potential in this division, so I'm going with the safe pick, which is Spivac securing a takedown and finishing with ground-and-pound late in the first.

Reinier de Ridder (8 MW) vs. Roman Dolidze

This fight could get ugly as hell.

Look, I get that Reinier de Ridder is moving back to a more comfortable weight, one in which he actually won and defended a championship belt multiple times. Freed of a brutal weight cut, it stands to reason his performance level should rise, at least above what we've seen in uninspiring efforts against Caio Borralho and Brendan Allen. At his best, de Ridder is a funky kickboxer and a dangerous submission artist.

At his worst, he's the kind of guy who could lose a fight to Roman Dolidze. Theoretically, this is the right matchup for de Ridder to reassert himself with Dolidze also coming off of consecutive losses and looking like he's maybe one more poor result from retirement. That said, Dolidze has rarely been an easy out for anyone and he's capable of drawing de Ridder into a mucky fight.

Fortunately for de Ridder, he thrives in those situations, so even if it's not much to look at for a round or two, I can see him outlasting Dolidze and finishing with a late submission.

MarQuel Mederos vs. Mason Jones

Mason Jones, I believe in you.

Seeing Jones have a successful second stint with the UFC has been a joy. He impressed in his first run against some stiff competition, losing a Fight of the Year match to Mike Davis, defeating David Onama (that aged well), and losing to Ludovit Klein. At no point did Jones look outmatched, and when he ended up returning to Cage Warriors, his UFC experience aided him in stringing together four straight victories and earning him another shot at the octagon.

I like MarQuel Mederos, but we saw some limitations in his recent draw with Chris Padilla (that probably should have gone Padilla's way) and I have Jones with a significant edge in the standup. Jones also utilizes his reach well, which was an issue Mederos had in his scrap with Padilla.

Whoever wins, this should be a banger, and I have Jones coming out on top in a potential Fight of the Night.

Carli Judice vs. Jeisla Chaves

Carli Judice should get the W here, but Jeisla Chaves is no walkover.

We know Judice is going to come forward and look to bully Chaves, bringing the aggressive attitude that has made her a prized member of the Jed Meshew Fighting Family. This is a big step up for Chaves after a grinding effort against Yuneisy Duben, a fighter that Judice took out in under two minutes. But let's not get too hung up on the MMA Math of it all.

Chaves definitely has to mix things up, using her wrestling to throw Judice off and threaten with submissions if the opportunities present themselves. If you like Judice's chances of developing into a contender, you should appreciate how Chaves will force her to expand her game.

In the end, I have Judice winning another entertaining decision and keeping her in the good graces of Boss Meshew.

Terrance Chatman vs. Anthony Wint

This may surprise you, but Anthony Wint, the onetime NFL and CFL hopeful, he's going to try and tackle a man.

Physically speaking, Wint looks like an absolute demon, and while he has a long way to go to build his skill set—calling his standup a “work in progress†is generous—you don't see his kind of athleticism inside of an MMA cage all that often. He's the biggest favorite on this card for a reason.

They've given Wint an intriguing first test in Terrance Chatman, who probably wouldn't put up numbers at any pro football combine, but has shown some potential as a fighter. He's here to stand and counter, and probably likes his chances of catching the less-experienced Wint with something on the feet.

Being ridiculously explosive has always been a solid base for combat sports, however, so I'm not brave enough to pick against Wint yet. Chatman's patience will be his undoing as Wint will take the initiative and dump Chatman on his back before finishing with a flurry of ground-and-pound.

Lerryan Douglas def. Jamall Emmers

Shamil Gaziev def. Kennedy Nzechukwu

Chris Padilla def. Nasrat Haqparast

Marcio Barbosa def. Ryan Kuse

Gauge Young def. Stan Dorsainvil

Jackson McVey def. Wes Schultz

Shanelle Dyer def. Elise Reed