This past Saturday on the main card of UFC 322, we saw a big time matchup in the welterweight division. Top contender Carlos Prates (23-7) was getting the fight that he asked for in taking on former champion Leon Edwards (22-6, 1 NC).
Edwards entered the bout having lost two fights in a row, but both losses came against dominant wrestlers. This was Edwards first fight in a while against someone who was willing to strike with him. Carlos Prates called for this fight in August after knocking out Geoff Neal and he got this fight.
In the first round, Edwards mixed things up well and mainly used his own wrestling and grappling to take the first round. In the second round, Prates did a good job of getting Edwards to stand with him and Edwards paid a massive price.
Prates lunged forward with a picture perfect left hand that dropped Edwards badly and one final shot ended the fight giving Prates the massive knockout win at UFC 322.
What’s next after UFC 322?
Back in April at UFC Kansas City, Prates suffered his first loss inside the octagon to Ian Machado Garry. In that fight, Prates fought much more tentatively and it wasn’t until the fifth round that he seemed to fight like himself when he nearly came from behind and finished Garry.
Since then, he’s fought twice knocking out Geoff Neal and now Leon Edwards. After the win, Prates called for a title shot, but I don’t see him getting a title shot next. Instead, there are a couple of extremely compelling title eliminators that we could be looking at for him.
I expect Prates to fight either Michael Morales or Shavkat Rakhmonov next. If Rakhmonov comes back from injury and he gets the next title shot, the perfect fight for the UFC to make is a matchup with Prates and Morales. If Morales gets the next title shot, Prates is the perfect opponent to welcome back Shavkat Rakhmonov.
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