No. 7-ranked welterweight contender Ian Machado Garry will risk his spot in the division Top 10 when he collides with No. 13-ranked Carlos Prates atop the UFC Kansas City fight card on Sat. night (April 26, 2025) at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
The winner is expected to join a very short list of 170-pound title contenders, but may still play second fiddle to No. 2-ranked Shavkat Rakhmonov, undefeated at 19-0 with 18 finishes. That’s according to reigning welterweight champion, Belal Muhammad.
Rakhmonov defeated Garry by close decision at UFC 310 last December.
“In my eyes, it’s still Shavkat unless he’s still going to be out a lot longer,” Muhammad told MMA Junkie. “But (Sean) Brady just had a huge performance against Leon (Edwards), and you still got (Joaquin) Buckley there; he’s calling for (Kamaru) Usman. It’ll have to be a huge show or a huge performance.”
Rakhmonov is currently rehabbing a knee injury (which Garry takes credit for).
Muhammad will make his first 170-pound title defense when he collides with No. 5-ranked Jack Della Maddalena in the UFC 315 pay-per-view (PPV) main event next month in Montreal. Muhammad will have to survive “Canelo Alvarez” in order to face Shavkat later this year.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
