“The Nightmare” wants gold.
No. 5-ranked Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight Carlos Prates meets former champion Jack Della Maddalena in the UFC Perth main event this weekend (Sat., May 2, 2026) inside RAC Arena in Perth, Western Australia — and the stakes couldn’t be higher.
For Prates, it’s simple: win, and he believes a title shot is next.
“He’s a really good striker, a dangerous guy and a good boxer,” Prates said during UFC Perth media day. “He’s a former champ — all respect to him,
but I think it’s my time. He already knows how it is to hold the belt — he lost, so now it’s going to be my time…Of course, this makes me next for the title. Islam Makhachev and Ian Garry are fighting in August, and I’ll get the winner.”
With a crowded Welterweight title picture, nothing is guaranteed — but Prates believes his resume separates him from the pack.
“After I beat two former champions in a row and no one else did that, I’m going to be next,” he added.
Prates is coming off a statement-making knockout of Leon Edwards at Madison Square Garden, becoming the first person to ever stop the British fighter (watch highlights). If he can do the same to Della Maddalena — something even Makhachev couldn’t accomplish — his case only gets stronger.
And don’t expect him to leave it in the judges’ hands.
Prates is predicting another knockout.
To checkout the latest and greatest UFC Perth: “Della Maddalena vs. Prates” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.
