Machado Garry, Prates look to take advantage of UFC Kansas City spotlight
Ian Machado Garry and Carlos Prates face off in a critical five-round welterweight contest that will be a key piece in determining how the division lines up after what promises to be an eventful five-week stretch in the UFC’s 170-pound ranks.
Fight cancellations and short-notice replacement bouts are a common-yet-challenging aspects of mixed martial arts, and they get more difficult and worrisome the further up the card they take place.
An early preliminary card bout getting scrapped or an opponent being switched out usually isn’t going to ruffle too many feathers, but when it comes to main card contests and headline acts, all bets are off. Sometimes things can be salvaged, and other times, what was to be the co-main event just gets bumped into the final position on the roll call.
Fortunately for the good folks in Kansas City, Mo., and those watching on Sportsnet this weekend, the change atop Saturday’s Fight Night card feels like an even trade, if not a slight upgrade, as Ian Machado Garry and Carlos Prates face off in a critical five-round welterweight contest that will be a key piece in determining how the division lines up after what promises to be an eventful five-week stretch in the 170-pound ranks.
The event was originally scheduled to be headlined by a light-heavyweight clash between former champion Jahamal Hill and recent title challenger Khalil Rountree Jr., who were first paired together last summer before Rountree Jr. was forced out of the contest. This time around, it was Hill that was forced to postpone things, with the duo now pencilled in as the headlining act for the promotion’s debut event in Azerbaijan later this year.
Needing a new fight to main event this weekend’s return to Kansas City, the UFC tapped Machado Garry to step in against Prates, who was booked to face Geoff Neal at UFC 314 earlier this month, only for Neal to withdraw from the bout.
With all due respect to Hill and Rountree and Neal, this is a much more compelling and captivating fight, as it pits a returning Machado Garry coming off the first loss of his career against the surging Fighting Nerds representative, who posted four stoppage wins in his rookie campaign last year to force his way into the top 15.
MOMENTUM, RANKINGS, AND SECOND HALF OPPORTUNITIES
With the welterweight title set to be defended next month in Montreal at UFC 315, Saturday’s contest is an opportunity for both Machado Garry and Prates to make their respective cases as legitimate title contenders in the division.
The Irishman has been teasing an ascent to that position for the last couple years, working his way up the divisional ranks on the strength of wins over Neil Magny, Neal and Michael “Venom” Page. He jumped at a short-notice opportunity in December, foregoing a Fight Night main event pairing with Joaquin Buckley on the final show of 2024 to face off with Shavkat Rakhmonov in a battle of unbeaten, landing on the wrong side of a unanimous decision verdict at UFC 310.
It was one of those fights where despite the loss, Machado Garry’s stock rose, as he pushed the undefeated Kazakh to the final bell for the first time in his career, showing he can hang with the division’s elite.
Though not necessarily the assignment he was looking for, stepping up again on short notice against an ascending fighter with a great deal of buzz at the moment is a prime opportunity for “The Future” to usurp some of the Brazilian’s momentum and thrust himself right back into the thick of the title conversation.
For Prates, the shift from a bout with Neal to headlining opposite Machado Garry is like getting upgraded to first class, and that isn’t a knock on Neal either. That fight was highly anticipated, but overshadowed by the rest of the stacked card a couple weeks back in Miami, but now, “The Nightmare” is in the main event against the once-beaten rising star, and all eyes are on them heading into the weekend.
Knocking off Machado Garry would transform Prates from an intriguing hopeful that had a great year out of the chute to a bona fide contender, especially if he were to collect a finish over the Irish standout.
Stylistically, this one will help answer any lingering questions folks may have about a number of things, including how well Machado Garry deals with a power hitter and probably what Prates’ takedown defence is like, but it will also add a little more colour to a top 15 that feels primed for some major changes going forward.
Machado Garry enters at No. 7, while Prates sits at No. 13, but there are some names in and around them that could be on the move in the next couple months. For starters, former champ Kamaru Usman sits at No. 4 despite not having not fought since October 2023 and last earning a victory at UFC 268, when he beat Colby Covington, who is stationed at No. 9 and whose last win came at UFC 272 a little over three years ago. Additionally, former title challenger and divisional stalwart Gilbert Burns is one spot ahead of Covington, but that could change depending on how things shake out between he and unbeaten prospect Michael Morales next month.
With champion Belal Muhammad set to defend against Jack Della Maddalena and Rakhmonov still waiting in the wings for a championship opportunity that has now been twice delayed, the winner of this weekend’s contest could be staring down a key battle with Philadelphia mauler Sean Brady or streaking St. Louis native Joaquin Buckley, who hasn’t fought yet this year after rising into the top 10 on the strength of four solid wins in 2024. There’s also ex-champ Leon Edwards, Usman, should he look to remain at welterweight, and whoever ends up on the wrong side of things at Bell Centre next month to consider as well, plus the Burns-Morales winner too.
Needless to say, there is high potential for some serious movement and a number of outstanding matchups in the welterweight division in the back half of the year, and it all starts shaking out this Saturday night in KCMO.
ADDITIONAL FIGHTERS TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND
Zhang Mingyang has started his UFC tenure with a pair of first-round stoppage wins and takes on divisional mainstay Anthony “Lionheart” Smith in his farewell fight on Saturday night. Beating Smith still carries some weight, and a third straight win in the relatively shallow light heavyweight ranks would be enough to vault “The Mountain Tiger” into the top 15 and land him opposite an established name later this year.
Ikram Aliskerov was on a lot of watch lists heading into last year, but a series of cancellations and shuffles resulted in him only fighting once, on short notice, in Saudi Arabia, against Robert Whittaker, which did not go well. Now the talented Russian is back, once again paired off with Andre Muniz (the fight has fallen apart twice before, so fingers crossed) with a chance to brush last year aside as a lost campaign and show why so many people (including me) were high on him heading into 2024.
Jaqueline Amorim is a world-class Brazilian jiu-jitsu player and has been getting settled in to life in the UFC as of late. After dropping her debut to notorious tough out Sam Hughes, the American Top Team representative has rattled off three straight stoppage wins, with a favourable outlook for a fourth this weekend against fellow Brazilian Polyana Viana.
Also, Cameron Saaiman returns after taking more than a year away to reorganize himself following consecutive losses to Christian Rodriguez and Payton Talbott. The South African is still only 24 years old, has already logged three UFC wins, and looks to right the ship this weekend against recent Dana White’s Contender Series grad Malcolm Wellmaker in what should be a bantamweight barnburner on the prelims, no matter how it shakes out.
