Carlos Prates expects his former opponent Ian Machado Garry to leave Philadelphia with the UFC welterweight title.
Prates made his pick in an official UFC video released during fight week. Champion Islam Makhachev defends the belt against Machado Garry in the UFC 330 main event on Saturday, Aug. 15, at Xfinity Mobile Arena. The matchup was formally announced in June.
We got a Makhachev vs Machado Garry prediction from @TheNightmare170. Do you agree with how Prates thinks UFC 330 is going to go?
— UFC (@ufc) August 9, 2026
Asked for a winner and a method, Prates did not hesitate:
“UFC 330. Ian Garry going to beat Makhachev by decision. I don’t know if it’s going to be a unanimous decision or a split decision, but it’s going to be a decision.”
The pick puts Prates on the challenger even though he has repeatedly positioned himself for a shot at either man. A Garry victory would also give the Brazilian a chance to pursue his only UFC loss while fighting for a championship.
Why Prates sees the fight reaching the scorecards
Machado Garry enters UFC 330 at 17-1. He has gone the distance in each of his last five fights, including a five-round unanimous decision over Prates in April 2025 and a three-round unanimous decision over former champion Belal Muhammad in November. His lone professional defeat came by decision against Shavkat Rakhmonov.
The first Prates fight is the clearest piece of shared history behind this prediction. Machado Garry used movement, range and timely grappling to build an early lead before Prates forced him into a difficult fifth round. All three judges still awarded the fight to Garry, who survived the late pressure and won unanimously.
Makhachev brings a 28-1 record into his first welterweight title defense. After four successful defenses of the lightweight championship, he moved to 170 pounds and controlled Jack Della Maddalena across five rounds to win a second UFC belt at UFC 322. Prates is predicting that Garry’s height, movement and defensive work will make this title fight different, but he stopped short of calling for a finish.
Prates keeps himself attached to the winner
Prates is 24-7 and has rebuilt his title case with consecutive knockouts of former welterweight champions Leon Edwards and Della Maddalena. His third-round stoppage of Della Maddalena in Perth produced an immediate call for gold and gave him a second straight win over an opponent Makhachev had already beaten.
The UFC selected unbeaten contender Michael Morales as the official UFC 330 backup, so Prates does not have a fight-week replacement role. His longer-term message has stayed consistent. In May, he said he expected to face the Makhachev-Garry winner, and no new bout has been announced for him since he stopped Della Maddalena.
If Machado Garry wins, the result would create a title rematch between the only two men to hand each other a UFC defeat. If Makhachev retains, Prates remains a fresh challenger with back-to-back knockouts of former champions. The next title shot is not official, but Prates has made both parts of his position clear: Garry wins on the scorecards, and he wants whoever holds the belt afterward.
