After dropping his title to Belal Muhammad, former welterweight champion Leon Edwards announced his comeback is scheduled for the main event of UFC Fight Night: London in March 2025.
'Rocky' has been mentioned left and right since, which shouldn't be a surprise considering both his name value and the attention that comes with a spot on the main event of UFC London – but there's a new contender throwing his name into the fray hat.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Leon Edwards' UFC comeback opponent may be revealed
During the DAZN Boxing broadcast of Sunny Edwards vs Galal Yafai in late November, Leon Edwards confirmed that he will be one half of the headliner for UFC London on March 22, 2025.
Following this revelation, it didn't take long for a host of top UFC welterweights to raise their hands in hopes of landing the fight in enemy territory, including long-time rival Jorge Masvidal and popular contender Sean Brady.
However, there is a new name in that mix; one that has fans frothing at the mouth… The exciting Brazilian prospect, Carlos 'The Nightmare' Prates.
Prates has thrown his name into the mix after the Instagram page 'IfOnlyMMA', which specializes in fantasy matchups, shared a post of Prates taking a jab at the British superstar.
'The Nightmare' then reshared the story on his own Instagram page with just a one-word response to the potential clash between striker and striker… 'Soon.'
Edwards himself has not yet responded to the call, though Prates could certainly be a scalp that could help him achieve his 2025 goal of regaining his UFC welterweight title.
That would be a fun fight! I hope we get some fight announcements for the division because it feels like there are a lot of rumors going around right now involving everyone.
— Zach “🅂🄲🄷🅄🅉” Schumaker (@_SchuZ_) December 27, 2024
View Tweet
Carlos Prates was one of the breakout stars of 2024 in the UFC
Four fights, four knockouts and four 'Performance of the Night bonuses' – it's safe to say Carlos Prates couldn't have dreamed of a better 2024, which ends with him as the #13 ranked welterweight contender.
After his most recent knockout of Neil Magny, Prates would name two other potential opponents he could face: a dream match and another, more realistic alternative.
“To be honest, I think the perfect fight would take place in Australia. As you know, I have a daughter there and I would love to visit her and fight there in Australia, against Jack Della Maddalena.
'All respect to the man, I don't know if it's too far off [in the rankings] but against Jack Della Maddalena it would be great.”
The next UFC event scheduled Down Under is UFC 312 in February 2025, with Prates also noting that he would love to compete with veteran Geoff Neal – should the JDM fight materialize.
As we say goodbye to 2024; Neal retains the #10 position in the rankings, while JDM sits at #4, with Leon Edwards finishing the year as the #1-ranked contender.
Of all these possible antagonists, who would you like to see 'The Nightmare' and 'Rocky' next, if not each other?
Related posts
Comments