Ian Garry vs. Carlos Prates To Headline UFC On ESPN 66 On Short Notice

A welterweight fight between Ian Machado Garry and Carlos Prates has been announced as the new main event of UFC On ESPN 66 in Kansas City on April 26th.

The UFC had originally intended to front the show with a light-heavyweight fight between Jamahal Hill and Khalil Rountree Jr, but had to scrap that plan after Hill withdrew due to an injury.

So now Garry and Prates step up to the plate instead on a little under four weeks notice for an intriguing match-up at 170lbs.

For the 27-year-old Garry it’s an opportunity to try to bounce back from the first loss of his career last time out in a title elimination bout against Shavkat Rakhmonov that he lost by unanimous decision.

Prior to that Garry had been unbeaten in 15 career fights, including an eight-fight winning streak in the UFC that had seen him beat the likes of Neil Magny, Geoff Neal and Michael ‘Venom’ Page.

As for Prates, he racked up four wins in a row last year after joining from the Contender Series, and impressively each of those came by way of KO.

Prates had actually been scheduled to fight Geoff Neal next at UFC 314 on April 12th, but Neal withdrew for undisclosed reasons and so now the Brazilian gets a fight against a higher ranked opponent instead just a couple of weeks later.

Garry vs. Prates fronts a UFC On ESPN 66 show that will also features Anthony Smith’s retirement fight against Zhang Mingyang, while Giga Chikadze vs. David Onama and Michel Pereira vs. Abus Magomedov are among the other bouts on the main card.