Morales and Prates Build Their Cases on Separate 2025 Stages

January 10, 2025 452 Views by

Michael Morales and Carlos Prates entered major welterweight assignments against different opponents in the spring of 2025. Morales faced Gilbert Burns in Las Vegas on May 17, while Prates met Ian Machado Garry in Kansas City on April 26.

Morales turns opportunity into a finish

Morales finished Burns with strikes at 3:39 of the opening round at UFC APEX. The victory added a former championship challenger to his record and continued the Ecuadorian’s unbeaten rise against progressively more recognizable UFC opposition.

That result followed a first-round stoppage of Neil Magny in August 2024. Morales later finished Sean Brady in the first round at UFC 322 in November 2025, extending the sequence of wins against established welterweights and giving his contender status a stronger competitive foundation.

Prates faces a five-round examination

Prates’s April main event lasted all five rounds. Garry won a unanimous decision at T-Mobile Center, presenting the Brazilian striker with a different experience from the rapid finishes that had built his early UFC momentum.

The two spring results therefore describe separate paths through the same division. Morales converted a headlining opportunity against Burns into an early finish, while Prates completed twenty-five minutes against Garry and left with a points defeat. Those completed contests provide the context for discussion of a future meeting between the two punchers, whose reputations were being shaped by different opponents and different tests throughout 2025.

Sources

Article Tags

Michael Morales, Carlos Prates, Ian Machado Garry, UFC, MMA

Categories
MMA

by Oscar Madison - Jan 10, 2025

by Oscar Madison - Jan 10, 2025