A Recurring Nightmare
Carlos Prates continued his spectacular profitable streak on Saturday night time as he knocked out perennial welterweight gatekeeper Neil Magny in the primary occasion at UFC Vegas 100.
“The Nightmare” has now completed all 4 of his opponents contained in the Octagon within the house of simply ten months and the win over “Haitan Sensation will possible see the Brazilian enter the 170lb rankings later this week.
With knockout wins over Trevin Giles, Charles Radtke and Li Jingliang underneath his belt already in 2024 (alongside a formidable victory over Mitch Ramirez on Dana White’s Contender Collection final 12 months), Prates has introduced himself as a fighter of actual curiosity within the welterweight division.
Let’s check out some attainable choices as his subsequent opponent:
Michael Web page
“MVP” is considered one of the vital harmful strikers on this planet of combined martial arts. The long-time Bellator contender impressed on his UFC debut in opposition to Kevin Holland in March of this 12 months earlier than suffereing a choice defeat in opposition to Ian Machado Garry at UFC 303 in June.
Web page, very similar to Prates, can be a strolling spotlight reel and any struggle between the pair would be sure you carry out the very best in each fighters.
Stephen Thompson
The veteran Thompson can be considered one of the vital distinctive strikers within the division, however finds himself in freefall down the welterweight rankings having suffered defeat in 4 of his final 5 outings.
With 41-year-old “Wonderboy” maybe having previous his sell-by date for the promotion by way of championship rivalry, they might look to make use of the previous title challenger’s star energy to jettison Carlos Prates into the highest ten at 170lbs.
Geoff Neal
“Handz of Metal” is simply a few weeks faraway from his win over Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 308 so the timing may be excellent for him to supply the following take a look at for Prates.
Apparently, the UFC has have handed each Neil Magny and Geoff Neal in fast succession to a few their prize prospects (Shavkat Rakhmonov and Ian Machado Garry) they usually could look to do the identical factor with their newest shiny new toy.
Gilbert Burns
One other former title challenger seemingly in freefall following a poor run of outcomes. Successive defeats by the hands of Belal Muhammad, Jack Della Maddalena and Sean Brady have seen “Durinho” vanish from the title dialogue, and very similar to Thompson he could discover himself defending his place within the rankings in opposition to one of many division’s rising stars.
An all-Brazil conflict with “The Nightmare” will surely be a struggle that may excite UFC followers, and a victory for Prates would springboard him into the higher echelons of the welterweight division.
Regardless of the UFC resolve to do subsequent with Carlos Prates, one factor is for positive: they’ve an distinctive expertise on their fingers with the potential to make some fascinating fights going ahead.
