Why Carlos Prates beats Jack Della Maddalena at UFC Perth

Carlos Prates became a can’t-miss attraction the moment he set foot on the Ultimate Fighting Championship campus.

The Vale Top Team- and Fighting Nerds-trained Brazilian ventures out in pursuit of his most consequential win to date when he meets former welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena in the UFC Fight Night 275 main event on Saturday at RAC Arena in Perth, Australia. Prates enters the cage as a slight betting favorite. As such, he appears to have several avenues to victory ahead of his third headlining assignment with the company. A look at three reasons why Prates beats Della Maddalena in the UFC’s first trip to the land Down Under in almost three months:

Speed

Prates possesses the kind of fast-twitch athleticism that cannot be taught and provides him with an edge against a wide swath of welterweights. It has allowed him to get the jump in many of his appearances, especially those who, like Della Maddalena, do their business in the standup exchanges. Ian Garry managed to bridge that gap as the only man to defeat “The Nightmare” inside the Octagon. The Irishman crowded Prates in the clinch and stifled his offense with a total of 19 takedown attempts across their five-round encounter. Garry completed four of them and piled up more than three minutes of control time, but more importantly, he prevented the ONE Championship and Legacy Fighting Alliance alum from establishing any kind of offensive rhythm. Della Maddalena does not have the tools to replicate those efforts, as he has secured only one takedown in his UFC career. That likely leaves him to test the waters in open space against the explosive Prates.

Power

Prates has proven time and time again that he wields the type of kill-switch pop that can end a fight in an instant. The 32-year-old Brazilian boasts 21 finishes among his 23 professional victories, 18 of them by knockout or technical knockout. Prates has stopped 10 opponents inside one round. All six of his UFC wins—, , , , and were the victims—have concluded with bursts of violence. Prates flashed his weaponry in his most recent appearance at UFC 322, where he became the first man to dispatch the aforementioned Edwards with strikes. One straight left did the trick against the former welterweight champion. Remember, too, that he has two-inch height and five-inch reach advantages against Della Maddalena.