UFC Kansas City: Machado Garry vs. Prates picks and predictions

See who we think will win this Saturday in Kansas City.

Art by Chris Rini.

After a week off the UFC puts the Octagon in the truck (I suspect) and drives it over to Kansas City for this weekend’s card. And it’s a pretty good one, too. I think Ian Machado Garry vs. Carlos Prates is a fascinating match-up and both those fighters have become key players in the welterweight title picture.

Our co-main is less compelling… unless you like car crash videos. Anthony Smith has been matched up with Chinese wrecking machine Zhang Mingyang. The main card also has Giga Chikadze vs. David Onama, Michel Pereira vs. Abus Magomedov, Randy Brown vs. Nicolas Dalby and Ikram Aliskerov vs. Andre Muniz. Not a ton of name value there, sure, but these are decent match-ups and they could result in interesting and entertaining fights.

The Prelims are a little more APEX-like. We could get some nice submissions there, though, thanks to the inclusion of Da’Mon Blackshear, Jaqueline Amorim and Matt Schnell vs. Jimmy Flick.

You know the drill. We’ve gone over the fights and made our picks. We’re pretty good at doing that, you know? Scroll down to see who we think will win and why. If you’re using this info for gambling, please do so responsibily.

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Ian Machado Garry (-125) vs. Carlos Prates (+105)

Miguel: This fight is equal parts interesting, weird, and puzzling. Part of that is the seeming strategic unpredictability of Garry, who has a tendency to outsmart himself with his game plans. But it’s also because Carlos Prates hasn’t seen a third round in five and a half years, making it really hard to surmise how he’ll hold up against a trickier opponent if the fight is prolonged…