Carlos Prates stopped Jack Della Maddalena in the third round at UFC Perth. The post provides limited details about the specific finish, stating only that Prates "smashed and finished" Maddalena in round three. This represents a significant victory for Prates over the highly-ranked Australian welterweight in his home country. The finish came after what appears to have been a competitive fight that went into the third round.
Carlos Prates delivered one of the biggest wins of his career on Friday, stopping Jack Della Maddalena by TKO in the third round of their welterweight main event at UFC Perth.
Della Maddalena, 29, entered the fight as one of the division's most dangerous finishers, ranked fourth at welterweight and thirteenth in the pound-for-pound standings. The Perth native carries an 18-4 record and fights out of Scrappy MMA, bringing a switch-stance style and an aggressive output of 5.57 significant strikes landed per minute at 51 percent accuracy. Fighting in front of his home crowd, the Australian was widely considered a stiff test for any contender in the 170-pound class.
Prates, nicknamed "The Nightmare," improved to 24-7 with the finish, moving to fifth in the welterweight rankings. The 32-year-old Brazilian trains out of Vale Top Team and holds physical advantages that he was able to leverage throughout the contest, standing six-foot-one with a 78-inch reach — nearly five inches longer than Della Maddalena's 73-inch wingspan. Prates fights out of a switch stance as well and connects at a 55 percent striking accuracy rate, suggesting precise, measured output rather than pure volume.
Why it matters
- Prates climbs inside the top five at welterweight with a statement win over a pound-for-pound-ranked opponent on the road
- The result disrupts the divisional picture, as Della Maddalena had been considered a legitimate title contender heading into the fight
- Both fighters share a switch-stance profile, making the stylistic matchup particularly competitive before Prates found the finish in round three
- The victory hands Prates arguably the most high-profile scalp of his UFC tenure and firmly positions him in title contention conversations at 170 pounds
