Machado Garry survives late blitz to beat Prates

At UFC Fight Night in Kansas City, Missouri, Ian Machado Garry triumphed over Carlos Prates in a late-second blitz.

Ireland’s Machado Garry was able to hold on to the final bell in a tense conclusion after being in control for the majority of the fight after suffering some ground shots from the Brazilian.

After being defeated by Shavkat Rakhmonov in December, Machado Garry won, and Prates suffered his first UFC defeat.

“I was conscious in every moment even though I wasn’t hurt enough to not know where I was.” I have nothing but respect for that man because I am aware of how dangerous that man is.

“That guy strikes like a truck,” he says. Although he has been crying, I promised to outclass him and I think I succeeded in doing so.

The 27-year-old took the Prates fight on short notice at the start of the month, just like he did against Rakhmonov.

Machado Garry wanted to recover from his first defeat in his nine-fight UFC career, and he did just that, outclassing the 31-year-old over five rounds.

Machado Garry opened up a cut below his left eye with a powerful punch to the grounded Brazilian after a tentative opening few minutes.

As he outshot Prates and took control in the second round, the Irishman started to make use of his range and began to land punches successfully.

In the third, Prates was struggling to stifle Machado Garry’s movement and land any memorable shots due to a blitz of uppercuts.

However, as the fight approached its final stages, Prates burst forth and pressured Machado Garry to find a place for a large left and flying knee.

With only a few minutes left, Prates turned around Machado Garry’s takedown before delivering some powerful shots to the ground.

The T-Mobile Center audience erupted in yelled out for a winner, but Machado Garry held on until the end to claim the victory on the judges’ scorecards.

Machado Garry revealed in a post-fight interview that he is the backup fighter for the title fight between Jack Della Maddalena and Belal Muhammad at UFC 315 on May 10.