Carlos Prates closed out his 2024 by doing what he has done all year, adding another stunning knockout to his collection.
Showcasing damaging power on the feet, Prates earned a finish win against Neil Magny in the main event of a “Fight Night” card from the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA on Saturday night, scoring him the biggest victory of his career thus far and likely pushing him into the welterweight division’s official rankings.
While Magny came out with a clear gameplan, Prates eventually got the fight to where he wanted and got the result he has become known for consistently achieving.
Veteran Magny likely recognized that Prates wanted the fight at stand-up range, so he looked to instead get the fight to the ground in the opening minutes of the bout. Prates provided resistance to these positions from Magny, reversing one of the takedowns into brief top control on the ground and limiting another attempt to just a body lock position.
Once back at a kickboxing range, it didn’t take long for Prates to put Magny in trouble. A short right hook from Prates dropped Magny with roughly a minute-and-a-half to go in the opening round, providing the first opening for a potential finish.
Prates swarmed a wobbled Magny, who tripped over himself and put together half-hearted takedown attempts while simply trying to survive. Eventually, another hard shot closed the show for Prates. Scoring with an overhand left to the top of Magny’s head, Prates earned a walk-off knockout with just over 10 seconds to go in the round.
The quick win wraps up an impressive rookie year on the UFC roster for Prates. After making his UFC debut in February, the Brazilian striker has now earned four consecutive finish wins in the promotion. He picked up roughly $150,000 worth of “Performance of the Night” bonuses from his three previous wins, including an August outing which made him the first fighter to stop veteran Li Jingliang with strikes.
“This year was so far the best year of my life [and] my career,” Prates said during his post-fight interview.
Prates is one of the successful talents this year emerging from the Brazilian “Fighting Nerds” gym. The group’s sudden UFC presence – with Prates competing alongside names like Caio Borralho, Jean Silva, and Mauricio Ruffy – has been a major story in the sport throughout the year.
Prates is likely to become 15th-ranked in the welterweight division following his latest victory, as Magny held the bordering spot on the rankings before this weekend.
As for what’s next, the 31-year-old issued a pair of call-outs following his win, one arguably more realistic than the other: Prates called for a fight against fourth-ranked Jack Della Maddalena, or 10th-place Geoff Neal.
Magny has now suffered rough back-to-back losses. The most experienced welterweight in UFC history was also stopped in the first round by Michael Morales in August, getting put away with ground and pound shots.
“The Haitian Sensation” entered Saturday as a massive underdog. He has served as an important gatekeeper for the welterweight division in recent years, stopping the momentum of some up-and-comers while giving big wins to others who are on the rise. On Saturday, Prates proved that he fit in the latter of those two groups.
Here are the quick results from Saturday’s show:
Main Card (7:00PM EDT / 4:00PM PDT) (ESPN+)
Bout 11: Carlos Prates def. Neil Magny via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 4:50)
Bout 10: Reinier de Ridder def. Gerald Meerschaert via Submission, Arm Triangle Choke (RD 3, 1:44)
Bout 9: Gaston Bolanos def. Cortavious Romious via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 8: Gillian Robertson def. Luana Pinheiro via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 7: Mansur Abdul-Malik def. Dusko Todorovic via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 2:44)
Preliminary Card (4:00PM EDT / 1:00PM PDT) (ESPN+)
Bout 6: Denise Gomes def. Karolina Kowalkiewicz via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 5: Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos def. Zach Scroggin via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 1:15)
Bout 4: Charles Radkte def. Matthew Semelsberger via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 0:51)
Bout 3: Da’Mon Blackshear def. Cody Stamann via Submission, Rear Naked Choke (RD 1, 4:19)
Bout 2: Tresean Gore def. Antonio Trocoli via Submission, Guillotine Choke (RD 1, 1:23)
Bout 1: Melissa Mullins def. Klaudia Sygula via TKO, Strikes (RD 2, 1:20)
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