Carlos Prates predicts shocking knockout win over Makhachev

Carlos Prates expects to survive Islam Makhachev’s early dominance before scoring a late knockout.

Carlos Prates is, after all, the next fighter most people think should face Islam Makhachev. He sees it exactly that way himself and has already said quite a bit about the fight. Now he’s made a prediction about how the fight might go, though it’s a rather unconventional one. He assumes that he’ll be completely taken apart in the early rounds, but that he’ll be able to stage a comeback and knock out Islam Makhachev. He said exactly:

“I think I’m going to start by getting smashed and the first time I manage to get back to my feet and start hurting him, I’m going to knock him out somewhere around the fourth or fifth round”

he told Gilbert Burns.

A prediction that is, for now, rather unusual. Carlos Prates is clearly confident that he can weather the toughest part of the fight and then go on the offensive himself. The reason for his high level of self-confidence has already been explained: after Islam Makhachev defended his title against Ian Machado Garry at UFC 330, Carlos Prates said that this bout significantly boosted his self-confidence. He said he has a similar style to Ian Machado Garry, and that this style had already worked in the fight against Islam Makhachev.

“If Garry was able to get Makhachev off his back, I can do it too. I became even more confident… Based on the things I saw and the amount of time we have to train, I was like, ‘F*ck, I think we can do this.’ I already thought so and now I saw Garry defend certain positions the same way I do, like the back against the cage. I do that a lot”

he said.

Before any of this can take effect, the UFC first has to officially confirm the fight. But if that happens, Carlos Prates just needs to stay confident, and then this could quickly turn into an exciting matchup.

I’d really look forward to this matchup. I’ve said it before, I have no idea if anyone can even beat Islam Makhachev right now, but if Carlos Prates has that much confidence, why not? I hope the fight happens, because it would be a huge matchup.