Analysis: Jack Della Maddalena's defensive strategy failed against Carlos Prates

A detailed fight analysis reveals that Jack Della Maddalena used a boxing block for approximately 90% of his defensive actions against Carlos Prates, which proved ineffective against Prates's tornado of kicks, elbows, knees, and punches. The block was porous, allowing many straight punches through, and Maddalena couldn't counter-strike explosively from the block position like Petr Yan does. Surprisingly, Maddalena fought mostly in southpaw stance despite having his left leg damaged by Makhachev previously, and when he switched to orthodox, Prates destroyed his left side with middle kicks. Maddalena's chance was to be the aggressive aggressor, keeping Prates against the cage, but he lacked the speed and was intimidated, especially after taking a knee. Prates's versatility with elbows, knees, and punches from different angles, combined with his confidence and effective use of reach, overwhelmed Maddalena. The analysis concludes that Prates is a combination of Alex Pereira and Anderson Silva, and discusses potential challenges he could pose to Islam Makhachev, including his dangerous leg kicks to southpaws and knockout power, though questions remain about how Prates would perform after being controlled on the ground.