Carlos Prates had Ian Machado Garry in a world of trouble at UFC Kansas City… or did he?
In his second UFC main event over the weekend, ‘Fighting Nerds’ star Carlos Prates faced a step-up in competition against the #7-ranked Ian Machado Garry.
The welterweight matchup wasn’t all that competitive in the first 3-4 rounds with Machado Garry leading the dance with his striking output and multiple takedowns.
Prates landed an average of 12.6 strikes in each round, nearly double in the final round where he had Machado Garry hurt with ground and pound strikes. Machado Garry crawled around the canvas, reaching for Prates’ legs as he tried to survive.
Both fighters absolutely exhausted, Machado Garry made it out of round 5 to win by unanimous decision at UFC Kansas City.
In what other sees as a near-finish for Prates, a UFC analyst thinks Machado Garry was doing just fine.
Chael Sonnen says Carlos Prates’ biggest moment was ‘greatly embellished’
Days removed from the thriller in Kansas City, three-time UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen refutes the narrative Prates was about to finish Machado Garry in the final minute.
“That moment in the fifth round, by the way, has been greatly embellished,” Sonnen said on Good Guy / Bad Guy.
“I read a thing on Twitter, it was talking about… ‘I can’t believe he didn’t finish him in the fifth round…’
“He wasn’t even close to finish him in the fifth round,” Sonnen explained.
“There was a spot where he could’ve swarmed him and attempted to finish, and then we could all guess what would happen from there. But it’s not like Ian was doing all that bad.
Sonnen continued.
“Ian has weaponized pace. When he was coming on his run, he breaks into the top 15… then we gotta start to wonder about championship rounds and big fights, co-main events and main events.
“When the lights are brights and all the pressure is on you, he reacts just fine,” the UFC analyst said of Machado Garry.
John McCarthy says Carlos Prates could’ve been ‘one shot’ from a 10-8 round
All three judges scored round 5 10-9 in favor of Prates, two judges giving him round 4 as well.
Prates unable to close the show in round 5, how close was the Brazilian to securing a 10-8 round?
“He wasn’t able to do enough damage,” legendary MMA referee ‘Big’ John McCarthy said of Prates on the Weighing In Podcast.
“The dominance, the damage would have had to have been great because he dominated only a small section of the round. I thought he was winning it from basically from the start [of round 5], the first minute kind of even and then he starts winning the round.
“It’s a marginal round as far as he’s up, but it’s by a slim margin. Then, he starts to take it over. And by the end, he’s starting to really dominate, but it wasn’t what we call domination with the duration of time
“It was a short amount of time and Garry looked like he’s in trouble, and he did some damage to him, but it wasn’t enough to give it 10-8.
“It’s one of those, like, 10-8.5,” McCarthy said of Prates winning round 5.
“He was getting there. But he needed some more. It could have been just one shot could have made the difference in that possibly getting there because now he’s not only in that position of he’s starting to be dominant. The damage is so dramatic that now you’re gonna say, ‘OK, I’m gonna give [10-8] to him.'”