Carlos Prates vows to knock out Islam Makhachev

Carlos Prates is confident he can defeat Islam Makhachev

Carlos Prates is the fighter most people see as the next one to face Islam Makhachev, and he’s brimming with confidence following Islam Makhachev’s most recent title defense.

Carlos Prates was in attendance at the UFC 330 event when Islam Makhachev defeated his opponent Ian Machado Garry by unanimous decision, setting a new UFC record for the longest active winning streak. Now the Brazilian is confident that if the two face off, he can defeat his opponent.

Islam Makhachev was already pushed to his limits by Ian Machado Garry and needed a strong final round to ultimately win the fight. Many of his takedown attempts were effectively thwarted by his challenger. This marks his second welterweight bout to go the full distance, he had typically won early in the lightweight division.

After the event, Carlos Prates made a very bold statement, promising to knock out the reigning UFC welterweight champion and No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter.

“I will knock you out, bro, I will knock you out. I will bring that belt to Brazil. The first welterweight champion from Brazil”

he said.

Carlos Prates also ran into the equally highly-ranked Michael Morales at the event, who was on standby as a replacement fighter. Carlos Prates showed no hesitation toward him either and announced that he would fight him as well.

“No, I'm going to beat Islam and then we'll fight, I'm going to fight Islam in December and then I'm going to fight [you] in April”

he said.

Islam Makhachev also sees Carlos Prates as the next title challenger. So it’s quite likely that the two will actually face off. Whether that will happen as early as December remains to be seen. The only question is whether Islam Makhachev will actually be defeated, or whether he’ll continue to extend his winning streak.

Personally, I’m pretty sure that Carlos Prates will be the next challenger. It’s just hard to say when that will be. Islam Makhachev has already announced that he’ll be taking a short break, and it remains to be seen exactly how long that will last.