UFC Kansas City has seen some major changes at the top of the order with Jamahal Hill pulling out of his fight against Khalil Rountree. However, just 20 days to go, Ian ‘Machado’ Garry and Carlos Prates stepped up to the plate. For Garry, of course, this is becoming a habit- a habit that UFC analyst Paul Felder believes is going to get him handsomely rewarded.
But this is not the first time ‘Machado’ has done so. After welterweight champion Belal Muhammad was ruled out of the title fight against Shavkat Rakhmonov in December last year, Garry had stepped up on short notice. And even though he would go on to lose, ‘Machado’ would find praise in putting Rakhmonov’s unbeaten record to a true test.
Felder, a former UFC fighter himself, spoke about just how smart it was for Garry to ensure that the UFC owed him a few favors.
“Ian Garry knows that these are the moments that you have to take advantage of. These are the moments where the UFC are going to give you favors for, later on in your career”, he said on ESPN.
With Garry’s welterweight title ambitions reaching a fever pitch, the Dana White-led promotion granting him wishes wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
It is a tried and tested method, the biggest example being former light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira. ‘Poatan’ saved a few fight cards (UFC 300 and UFC 303) in 2024 by stepping in on short notice to defend his 205 lbs title.
As a result, he is said to have earned life-changing money and was featured heavily in the UFC’s promotional activities, becoming a superstar in the process.
This switch-up at UFC Kansas City is big for Garry’s opponent, Prates, as well. The 13th-ranked contender was originally set to fight the 10th-ranked Geoff Neal.
So this fight with the 7th ranked Garry is a move up in competition for him, and he will be eager to show off his striking against one of the best in the division in ‘Machado‘.
Currently on an 11-fight win streak, Prates will hope to go past Garry and be considered a serious contender for UFC gold in the upcoming months, even though he might have to go through a few more hurdles to get there.
Both Garry and Prates are stylistically well-matched and would make for a very interesting three-round fight. But how did this pairing come to be? Did someone roll the dice? Did Chael Sonnen?
Sonnen’s powers of clairvoyance
When UFC boss, White announced the new main event for UFC Kansas City, one man was the happiest: former middleweight contender, Chael Sonnen.
The UFC analyst seems to think he is part of the reason why the promotion put Prates in the main event on short notice. In a YouTube video for his channel, he spoke about the subtle matchmaking he was involved in.
“While I may have had nothing to do with this, I can’t help but feel that perhaps I did. Because two days later, this morning, Carlos Prates gets announced for a main event against Ian Garry”, Sonnen explained.
“At a minimum, if it doesn’t pertain to me, somebody did what I asked them to do, which was just a little bit of a deeper dive into Carlos”, the Good Guy/Bad Guy host said.
Sonnen revealed that the UFC was looking to scrap Prates’s next fight altogether after Geoff Neal pulled out.
But he implored them to look deeper into the Brazilian because he believes Prates is on the rise and his popularity will pave the way for great fanfare.
