Islam Makhachev won against Ian Machado Garry in Saturday's UFC 330 main event to successfully defend his UFC Welterweight Championship. In a full five-round fight, Makhachev won via unanimous decision with scores of 48-47, 49-46, and 49-46. That was due to Makhachev controlling the fight for over 12 minutes compared to just 34 seconds for the challenger, and achieving seven takedowns of his 15 attempts on Machado Garry.
As Makhachev picked up the win, his next challenger was potentially watching from the crowd. Carlos Prates was in attendance and, several days after the fight, spoke with Ariel Helwani in a live interview. He offered some criticism about what he saw from the champion.
"I think it's boring," Prates told Helwani of Makhachev's fighting style. "I don't like watch fights at all ... Some friends, of course, I like to watch, but especially if there's some grappler fighting, I don't like to watch.
I like watching people getting knocked out." Read more: Carlos Prates Sends Strong Warning to Islam Makhachev After UFC 330 Win "It's crazy, because now I really like to train grappling, more than striking, but I don't like to watch like grappling, and fighters go to ground and boring fights," he said. Along with that, he indicated he realized some things from watching Makhachev's win over Machado Garry that gave him insight into how he could defeat the champion. According to Prates, he saw ways to defend and stop takedowns, and although he praised Makhachev's kickboxing, he indicated he is "much better" at that aspect of MMA.
During his chat with Helwani, Prates also indicated he is next in line for a title shot at Makhachev and recently signed a new eight-fight contract with the UFC. After the UFC 330 win, Makhachev said he believed that Prates should be his next opponent, and even suggested he wants to fight sooner rather than later. There is some hope that might happen this year, but his potential challenger seemingly dismissed that notion.
Prates said he would "love to fight in December" if Makhachev wants to fight so soon after his recent victory, but doesn't believe it would happen by December. Interestingly enough, Prates' last loss came to the man that Makhachev just beat, Ian Machado Garry, at UFC on ESPN: Machado Garry vs. Prates last April via unanimous decision.
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