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Jack Della Maddalena could be back in the Octagon by spring. | Getty/UFC
With Islam Makhachev‘s victory over Jack Della Maddalena to capture UFC welterweight gold, the possibilities of a matchup at the top of the division have expanded.
Depending on who is chosen next to challenge Makhachev for the belt, practically any combination among the top six in the division would make sense. In an interview with Sherdog.com shortly after his victory over Leon Edwards at UFC 322, on the same night that Makhachev took the belt from Madalena and Michael Morales defeated Sean Brady, Carlos Prates revealed that he believed the UFC would put him next against Maddalena next.
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Ben Vickers, Maddalena’s coach, recently stated that negotiations are already underway for his athlete to return to the Octagon, potentially against the Fighting Nerds product between April and May.
“We’re probably looking April-May time to get Jack back,” Vickers told Submission Radio. “…Prates is one of the names being thrown around, there’s other names being thrown around. There’s nothing signed yet, but there are talks in progress… It would be nice to have a striker.”
On social media, Prates reinforced his interest in the fight. Through Instagram Stories, Prates shared the news and captioned the post only with handshake, location and question mark emojis — suggesting that the agreement is close and that only the location of the duel remains to be defined.
Potential Southpaw vs. Southpaw
In that exclusive interview with Sherdog last November, Prates explained why he believed the UFC would put him against the Australian.
“I strongly believe that Usman will do a champ vs. champ challenge against Islam for the belt; Ian Garry and Morales dont like each other, so it makes sense they fight next,” he said. “In my case, I just beat a former champion, (and) Madalena is now a former champion too.
“Southpaw against southpaw, two strikers, there’s no way this fight won’t end in a knockout.”
When asked about the best way to beat the former champion, Prates didn’t hold back.
“Using low kicks and disrupting his movement, I believe I can [earn] another knockout,” he said.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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