There are a whole lot of options available for newly crowned Welterweight kingpin Islam Makhachev.
At UFC 322, Makhachev dominated Jack Della Maddalena to capture the crown and become the latest two-division champion. With that victory, Makhachev has kicked down the divisional doors just as a new generation of talent has arrived at the upper echelon. On the very same card that Makhachev captured gold, Carlos Prates and Michael Morales picked up dramatic knockout wins to propel themselves up the ladder.
In addition to those young hitters, former pound-for-pound king Kamaru Usman is back in the win column, Shavkat Rakhmonov deserves his long-awaited chance at gold, Ian Garry vs. Belal Muhammad is highly relevant, and Ilia Topuria still wants to settle his bad blood with the Dagestani champion.
Among all the names mentioned, Carlos Prates is more of a long shot. Despite a spectacular pair of knockout wins, he also lost a competitive fight with Garry at the start of the year. He likely needs another win or two, but that hasn’t stopped Prates from trying to wiggle into the title picture. While speaking with Laerte Viana, Prates made an interesting sales pitch to the champion.
“I’m the easiest fight for Islam,” Prates said (via Home of Fight). “Because Kamaru Usman, he’s a badass. He’s already damn good at wrestling. I’m different, I get taken down the most. Come fight me, it will be easy for you.”
What’s funny here is that Prates has actually proven rather difficult to take down in his (admittedly short) UFC career. Per UFC Stats, he currently holds an 80% takedown defense rate, and he’s generally been able to return to his feet quickly when grounded. He’s certainly not a wrestler on the level of Usman, but Prates is far from being some random kickboxer with no grappling defense.
