Carlos Prates notched his seventh UFC win this past Saturday when he finished former welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena, which was also coincidentally his seventh knockout in the promotion.
The win put Prates tied for fifth all-time for knockouts in the UFC welterweight division and he’ll be tied for second with one more knockout added to his resume. That would still put Prates behind Matt Brown, who is the UFC’s all-time leader for welterweight knockouts with 13 during his career.
While Prates is still six knockouts away from even tying Brown’s remarkable record, the retired welterweight admits he would be proud to have somebody like that challenge him for that top spot.
“I’ll say that would be a guy that I’d be happy to do it,” Brown said about Prates potentially breaking his record on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “If it was Matt Hughes, I’d be [a little more upset], he was like No. 3 on there. Of course, he’s retired and wouldn’t do that but Prates, I’m a huge fan of his. I’ve been a huge fan of his for a long time.
“I actually hung out with him when I went up and fought in Chicago. He actually asked for a picture with me. He was a big fan of mine and I think he said he watched my clinch DVD’s and my courses on Dynamic Striking. He learned some stuff and he loves all that and that I inspired him, etc. That’s a great feeling, that you’re passing onto the next generation.”
Brown praised Prates not only for his win in the UFC Perth main event but for the way he systematically dismantled Della Maddalena across two plus rounds before getting the finish.
There was nothing fluky about Prates’ win because he just didn’t land a one-punch knockout. Instead, he broke down the former UFC welterweight champion with a variety of strikes before mercifully ending the fight in the third round.
“It feels like Carlos came into his own in this fight,” Brown said. “He stepped up to the next level. The most impressive thing it wasn’t a one punch knockout. It was diversity. The leg kicks, the knees, the punches, the elbows, the clinch, just everything all around. Other than the fact that he got taken down a little bit too easily but we’ll bypass that little part.
“But striking wise is the point, he just looked tremendous from top to bottom, front and back and it again it was the diversity. Ultimately, I think that’s where he beat Jack.”
Prates has now knocked out two former champions in back-to-back fights with Della Maddalena and Leon Edwards. Immediately after his win, Prates called for a title shot but conceded that Ian Machado Garry was almost certainly getting the next crack at reigning champion Islam Makhachev with all signs pointing towards that fight happening in August.
Of course, Garry handed Prates his only loss in the UFC when he beat the Brazilian by decision back in 2025 so it appears he’s getting the next shot no matter what.
That said, Makhachev remains the most daunting obstacle for anybody at welterweight whether that’s Garry, Prates or rising contender Michael Morales.
Truth be told, Brown doesn’t like anybody’s chances against Makhachev, especially with all three of the top challengers coming from a striking background.
“I know we’re going to get to Islam,” Brown said. “That’s a whole other story. That’s a different beast there, a different animal.
“I mean what a great time and place for Islam to be champion. This guy’s in a situation where he’s got all strikers at the top of the heap now. I know [Michael] Morales is a big guy but do you think he’s going to wrestle with Islam or be able to wrestle with Islam? [Kamaru] Usman is the only guy, the dark horse here but what is he going to have to do to get a title shot?”
In a perfect world, Brown advises Makhachev to stay active and start rolling through these challengers in rapid-fire fashion as he potentially boosts his resume to reach all-time great status.
Makhachev already holds the record for the most title defenses at lightweight and while beating Georges St-Pierre’s record nine title defenses at welterweight probably isn’t realistic, the fact that the top pound-for-pound fighter in the sport could rack up that many title fight wins across two divisions is unprecedented.
Brown feels like Makhachev likely beats Garry, Prates and Morales in dominant fashion and by then maybe a new contender emerges or perhaps the UFC could finally line up the long awaited showdown against Ilia Topuria in the future.
“When you think about the situation that Islam is in,” Brown explained. “Let’s say he runs through all three guys. They’re all strikers. He’s basically got the same training camp three fights in a row if he faces those three guys next. Then he’s on a four or five fight winning streak as the champion after coming up a division. No one looks at Anderson Silva’s run or [Georges St-Pierre’s] run or Demetrious Johnson, Jon Jones, they don’t look at all those runs and say ‘well those were the right matchups for them.’ No, you’re the title holder, you fight the guy who’s the best guy next to you, wrestler, striker whatever. This is the perfect string of matchups.
“If I’m Islam, I try to stay as active as I can, try to get all three within a year, starting now or whatever, try to get all three of those done in a year before those guys do get even better wrestling, which he may not care because he’s probably still his whole life going to be better than them at wrestling. But just do it now. Go through all three of them. Do it in nine months. Every three months, just go fight another one.”
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