Main Event Spotlight | Machado Garry vs Prates

With a moniker like “The Future” and an unblemished record, expectations unequivocally follow. Machado Garry was more than happy to welcome all lovers, haters and eyeballs as he entered the promotion as an undefeated 22-year-old in September 2021.

Machado Garry never shied from his admiration for what his fellow Irishman Conor McGregor accomplished, and he announced his intention to follow in those lofty footsteps, deeming himself the face of the “Irish Takeover 2.0.” The now-27-year-old made good on those statements, racking up eight wins (three via knockout) in three years, including victories over Neil Magny, Geoff Neal and Michael “Venom” Page. On short notice, he stepped up to fight a five-round bout against Shavkat Rakhmonov with a title shot on the line. He fell short, but his effort over the course of 25 minutes, including a near-submission late, proving he has all the grit and tenacity to go along with his high-level, high-IQ fight style.

WATCH: Ian Machado Garry's Fight Week Interview

A fun wrinkle to Machado Garry’s game is his time spent with Chute Boxe in Brazil. Studying alongside Charles Oliveira and under the tutelage of Diego Lima, Machado Garry’s game has noticeably improved, especially his confidence on the mat.

Along the way, Machado Garry has been anything but shy in front of any camera or microphone presented to him. He is bluntly honest in his assessment of his own performances and of his peers, which naturally ruffles feathers, but when he steps into the Octagon, he deserves as much respect as any other welterweight contender. Living in the spotlight takes a certain kind of person, and he appears to be the type that is certain he will thrive more as the lights get brighter. At 27, Machado Garry is only entering his prime, and all signs point toward a long presence at the top of the division. 

Carlos Prates

Last year, UFC.com decided to share the Fighter of the Year honors between Ilia Topuria and Alex Pereira. While co-winners aren’t necessarily rare, I’m starting to circle a pitch for the Fighting Nerds collective to have a shared place on the list based on how they’ve carried their massive momentum into 2025. Mauricio Ruffy and Jean Silva have racked up three finishes to start the year, and Carlos Prates is hoping to provide the next highlight-reel moment for the glasses-wearing team out of Sao Paulo.

Prates burst onto the scene with a knockout win on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2023, and he had as impressive of a rookie campaign as anyone in recent memory in 2024. The 31-year-old tallied four knockout wins and four performance bonuses in nine months to skyrocket toward the rankings at 170 pounds. His two most recent efforts included handing Li Jingliang his first knockout loss and finishing Neil Magny (who Machado Garry dominated in a decision effort) in the first round of Prates’ first UFC main event. Prates was scheduled to fight Geoff Neal at UFC 314, but an injury to Neal scrapped his chance to compete alongside Silva in Miami. Instead, the door to his toughest test and second main event opened.

WATCH: Carlos Prates' Fight Week Interview

By all accounts, Prates has the high Fight IQ and entertainingly savage finishing instincts of his teammates. He rides into Kansas City off the back of 11 straight wins dating back to December 2019, and with his toughest test to date, one could expect something spectacular on April 26.   

Meeting in the Middle

The general consensus assumes Machado Garry and Prates will stand and strike against one another, but that’s not to say the two won’t mix their martial arts, as well. In particular, Machado Garry is much more comfortable working on the ground compared to when he first entered the promotion. He showed as much against Page, taking the Englishman down twice and attempting two submissions in their bout at UFC 303. That said, Prates has defended takedowns at a 91 percent clip so far.

If the fight stays on the feet, it should be a fascinating and high-level contest. Machado Garry is wicked fast for a man standing 6-foot-3, and he is adept at maintaining distance with long-range strikes and footwork. Although Prates is the shorter man by two inches, he’ll hold a four-inch reach advantage and is also smart with the way he manages the real estate in the Octagon.

They both land about four strikes per minute, but Machado Garry’s distance management shows in the fact that he absorbs less than three strikes from his opponent per minute. Prates has shown a propensity to mix up targets and fight on the inside if he can back his opponents up to the cage, so there should be layers of adjustments that grow and fester as long as the fight allows.