Carlos Prates will welcome Ian Garry to the main event spotlight this weekend.
After his fight with Geoff Neal at UFC 314 fell through, Prates was pushed to the headliner of UFC Kansas City this weekend. However, it won’t be Neal who faces off against the Fighting Nerds star. Instead, it’ll be rising Irish contender Ian Garry.
‘The Future’ has been one of the more intriguing newcomers in recent years, but despite his rise through the welterweight ranks, Garry has never featured at the top of a UFC card. And Prates believes he knows why that is.
“I’ve been with the company for one year,” Prates told MMA Hoje. “Two main events, and four knockout bonuses… This kid’s been in the UFC for four years and hasn’t won a single bonus in his life. A bunch of decisions, boring ass fights. If he’s fighting in the main event today, it’s because I chose him. I said I wanted to fight him.”
Like him or not, there’s some truth to Prates’ comments. Through four appearances with the promotion, ‘The Nightmare’ has four wins and four knockouts, while Garry has gone to a decision in six of his nine fights under the UFC banner. Furthermore, ‘The Future’ has not finished an opponent in nearly two years, the last being Daniel Rodriguez at UFC on ABC 4.
Since then, Garry has scored decisions over Neil Magny, Geoff Neal, and Michael ‘Venom’ Page.
Carlos Prates says Garry will leave with a ‘Full Pocket’ and nothing more
With UFC Kansas City being Garry’s first headliner with the promotion, the Irishman will likely earn himself a sizeable bump in pay. But according to Prates, that’s all he’s going to leave with.
“You’ll make some money there,” Prates said of Garry. “After he wakes up, he’ll have to say: ‘Thank you, Carlos Prates, you made me make good money…’ You will go out with defeat but with a full pocket.”
Prates has looked nothing short of impressive in his UFC run thus far, finishing every one of his opponents inside the first two rounds. However, ‘The Nightmare’ has never faced an opponent as well-rounded as Garry, making their clash in the ‘City of Fountains’ a must-see matchup.
