This past Saturday night in the main event of UFC Kansas City, we saw a big time matchup in the welterweight division. Two men were looking to punch their ticket to title contention as Ian Machado Garry (16-1) took on the extremely dangerous Carlos Prates (21-7).
Machado Garry was coming off a close loss to Shavkat Rakhmonov while Prates had gone 4-0 inside the octagon with four knockouts. Both men had a lot to prove in this one and they were both looking to make a statement. For the first three rounds, that statement was made by Machado Garry.
Carlos Prates just seemed a step behind for the first three rounds. He wasn’t pulling the trigger and fighting with that aggressiveness that we know comes from The Fighting Nerds. Machado Garry was touching him up with a beautiful combination of speed, footwork, and clean combinations.
In the fourth round, Prates finally started pulling the trigger and when he did, he landed some good shots. I had Machado Garry up 3-1 heading into the fifth. Prates defended takedowns very well and reversed a takedown attempt late in the fifth. He ended up on top and landed huge shots that appeared to hurt Machado Garry. Sitting by the cage, it looked like Prates was only one or two good shots away from having the fight stopped.
However, he never found the finishing blow and Machado Garry escaped to the final bell. When the cards were read, it was 49-46 and two 48-47s in favor of Ian Machado Garry at UFC Kansas City.
What’s next after UFC Kansas City?
This was Prates’ first loss since 2019 and it was his first loss inside the octagon. I think he can take a lot of good away from this fight and honestly, I think he’ll be frustrated watching it back. Through the first three rounds, it didn’t look like he was on the same level as Machado Garry. However, he proved in the last two rounds that he was on that level and he nearly finished the fight. Had Prates pulled the trigger earlier, who knows what would’ve happened.
This is a loss that Prates will grow from and I think he’s only going to get better. He doesn’t lose much in terms of his stock from this performance. With that, what should be next for him after UFC Kansas City? Honestly, I like the idea of rebooking the fight with him and Geoff Neal. Neal is currently ranked 10th and these two were already preparing for each other. If Neal can get healthy, I love the idea of just making that fight again.