The UFC is coming up on it’s 100th Fight Night from The APEX in Las Vegas and they announced who would be headlining that card this morning. The promotion announced that the welterweight who has more wins than anyone else in the history of the division Neil Magny (29-12) will resume his role as divisional gate keeper as he takes on surging contender Carlos Prates (20-6).
It had been rumored that Prates was going to face Randy Brown at UFC 309 a week later at MSG, but the promotion needed a main event for this APEX card and Prates is getting the call. Prates was introduced to fans via The Contender Series last year and he made a huge impact.
A second round knockout earned him a contract and he hasn’t slowed down at all. He’s fought three times this year and he’s scored three knockouts. Most recently, he devastated and knocked out Li Jingliang in August. Prior to that he had knocked out Charles Radtke and Trevin Giles.
UFC Vegas 100
While Prates has looked incredible, he hasn’t broken into the rankings just yet. To do that, he’ll have to defeat 15th ranked Neil Magny. Magny has made a name for himself over the past few years as the true gatekeeper of the welterweight division. If you want to know if a contender is legit or not, the UFC gives them to Neil Magny.
Magny has fought the likes of Shavkat Rakhmonov, Daniel Rodriguez, Gilbert Burns, Ian Garry, Mike Mallott, and Michael Morales over the past few years. Of course, the young contenders in that list were Rakhmonov, Rodriguez, Garry, Mallott, and Morales. Most recently, he fought Michael Morales and was stopped in the first round.
However, prior to that, he scored a massive TKO over Mike Mallott in Canada at UFC 297 in January halting all momentum and hype surrounding the Canadian star. Now, Magny is going to test out Prates to see just how good he really is. If Prates runs through Magny like he’s ran through his first three UFC opponents, the sky might be the limit.