With his impressive beatdown of Jack Della Maddalena at UFC Perth, Carlos Prates believes he’s done enough to earn a title shot against welterweight champ Islam Makhachev.
Prates pummeled his Australian opponent mercilessly in front of JDM’s hometown crowd, hitting him with big knees and using his length to punish every time Della Maddalena stepped into range. By the third round it felt like a mercy when he finally went down to the canvas, allowing Prates to earn a TKO finish (watch the highlights
here).
Now Prates is setting his sights on the welterweight belt.
“I should be next,” Prates said at the UFC Perth post-fight press conference. “Nobody beat two former champs in a really good way. They never lost by knockout, and then I come there and make it look easy. All respect to them, they are tough. But against Leon [Edwards], against [Jack Della Maddalena], I made it look easy, and I’m next. Of course you have [Michael] Morales, but Morales didn’t fight a former champ. I fought two former champs, so I will be next.”
The UFC has been known to let fighters jump the line with impressive wins and Prates’ performance in Australia certainly qualifies. But at this point it seems like Islam Makhachev’s next fight is carved in stone. He’s expected to face Ian Machado Garry at UFC 330 on August 15th.
“You have Ian, he’s going to fight now against Makhachev,” Prates admitted. “So the next [one] is going to be Carlos Prates.”
Prates has an interesting relationship with Garry, who beat him back in April 2025 but is still friends.
“We talk sometimes, and he called me a month and a half ago,” Prates said. “We were talking about life, the fights, and he said, ‘Hey brother, you need to beat JDM, then I’m going to beat Islam, and then we can do a rematch in Brazil. It would be amazing.’ I’m not sure if it can happen in Brazil, but of course it would be really cool to fight Islam because he is No. 1 pound-for-pound. Of course, it’s still business to do against Ian. He beat me, and I don’t like that.”
Prates may want to hope Garry beats Makhachev in August, because this win over Jack Della Maddalena won’t save his place in line if Ilia Topuria beats Justin Gaethje in June and declares he’s moving to welterweight to challenge Islam.
