And now, with Prates' first loss in the UFC, what is his situation?

[wrb]

Well he passed the barrier to entry test in Magny for the top 15 and was linked to fights with Randy Brown and Geoff Neal. He also demolished Li Jianglang before that. Sure not top 5 worthy, but beating those 2 by KO is pretty respectable.

He was meant to be fighting Geoff Neal on this card, that's not an easy fight for Prates. The guy had 4 fights in 13 months, what are you complaining about? He progressed his way up to 13 with reasonable match ups and a variety of opponents finishing them all this 48-47 with Ian Garry. 4 easy opponents?
His opponents were 7-7, 3-1, 11-7,22-12. For a combined total of 43-27 in the UFC alone and a reasonable progression into top 15 fights. Especially when you are KOing them violently.

If he had beaten Garry he would have been deserving of high top 10. If he beat Neal he would have been ranked around 10. Don;t hate a fighter because of posters on Sherdog haha.

He is not bad man he is really good but Its not just about the records of the people he had to fight, its that every one had the perfect proportions and style for him to Ko. I just rewatched all 4 last week and they all had like baby arms compared to him who had a bigger reach than Garry plus the one KO was a straight eye poke win that should of been contested.

Its frustrating when you have no rules for a title shot which I guarantee he would of gotten if he beat Garry, plus him and Jean rub me the wrong way but they are both very good.

 

[KO Shotz]

Prates is a top 10 guy. I mean he almost came back & finished Ian Garry but Ian survived. Prates is a dangerous dude especially on the feet. He isn't done. He'll be back in the mix of things again.

 

[maximus__]

He is not bad man he is really good but Its not just about the records of the people he had to fight, its that every one had the perfect proportions and style for him to Ko. I just rewatched all 4 last week and they all had like baby arms compared to him who had a bigger reach than Garry plus the one KO was a straight eye poke win that should of been contested.

Its frustrating when you have no rules for a title shot which I guarantee he would of gotten if he beat Garry, plus him and Jean rub me the wrong way but they are both very good.

Neil Magny and Geoff Neal aren't the perfect style for him to KO at all. Magny is usually used to weed out non wrestlers.
Neal has had some close losses with top guys because he gets in trouble out of camp.

I didn't catch the eyepoke, but if Song Yadong can literally finger CCCs eye socket and then wave his fingers around, they aren 't ever going to fix the eye poke problem sadly.

Man I wasn't sold on him till the Ian fight. He has major upside after that fight. He held his own against a decent wrestler, never really settle and then came on strong to nearly finish someone in the 5th. Only issue is he let Garry back up like Rogan and DC scream to each week. That's why you don't because people can just run. That's a good loss to take coming into the top 10. No major damage and just to inactive in a 5 rounder. Garry on the other hand, fought a near perfect fight and still nearly lost it.

 

[FrappeDuRocma]

The situation is, you stop overrating every new shinny toy, after 3 wins and stop with your stupid threads.

 

[Pilo]

Fourth round was debatable.

The fight wasn't particularly close IMO. Garry faded at the end and let Prates off the hook but the first three and a half rounds were not a good look for Prates.

Yeah, I agree that Prates didn’t look good in those three rounds, as Garry completely nullified his game, never allowed him to let loose with his strikes, and managed distance brilliantly. Great fight IQ by Garry.

Nevertheless, for Prates to be the man who put his opponent in real danger late in the fight, that’s sheer grit. And frankly, as opposed to fight IQ which is something he can work on, this sort of grit isn’t given to all fighters. We just found out that he has that, alongside solid takedown defense and threatening power in his strikes even in the fifth round. Great cards for him to have in his hand.

Yeah. That is my opinion too.

I think Prates is a top 5 material in WW for the future.

-He showed an amazing TDD. Stuffed 15 attemps from Garry and was able to get up really quickly when fell.
-Great defensive BJJ. The reversal in the fifth was beautiful.
-He has a great chin
-He is really a nightmare for every fighter in that division because he maintains his knockout power for 5 rounds!

I just think stylistically Garry has the right weapons to fight Prates:

-High IQ
-Takedown threat
-Great cardio to circle and keep the distance for 5 rounds
-Distance management
-Kicks to keep the distance
-Great boxing skills
-Good BJJ

That’s bang on!

I would add that Garry is just a tough problem to solve for anyone at 170, really, for all the reasons you so accurately pointed out.

I think what really comes out of this is, Prates got beat by Garry’s superior fight IQ: Garry’s high kicks required Prates to keep his hands up, and prevented him from letting loose with those deadly straight lefts that he likes to land. Garry fought tall, moved well, and kept Prates guessing by mixing things up with takedown attempts.

This was a tale of brains vs guts…I think fans can appreciate both Garry’s display of fight IQ, and Prates’ display of sheer grit.

 

[SalvadorAllende]

He was ranked for no reason, got fast tracked and lost.

I don't think he should fight a ranked opponent. If he does MVP would be awesome.

If they keep giving him ranked fighters they risk to do what they did to Benoit Saint denis.