The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s latest date at the UFC Apex provides a decent undercard on Saturday in Las Vegas, led by two recent Dana White’s Contender Series standouts. Welterweight Carlos Prates and lightweight Bolaji Oki have been consistent knockout threats in the past and now look to keep that trend going in their respective promotional debuts. Meanwhile, Konklak Suphisara continues a strong women’s strawweight campaign against Bruna Brasil further down the UFC Fight Night 236 bill, but the best bout of the bunch might be an intriguing welterweight clash between veterans Max Griffin and Jeremiah Wells.
Welterweights
Trevin Giles (16-5, 7-5 UFC) vs. Carlos Prates (17-6, 0-0 UFC)ODDS: Prates (-270), Giles (+220)
Giles is still young enough to turn things around, but his UFC career has mostly been an exercise in frustration thus far. A late-notice signee in 2017, “The Problem” looked like a well-rounded finishing threat at middleweight after a few wins, but things went sideways in 2019. Giles still showed a lot of offensive tools against Zak Cummings and Gerald Meerschaert, but a lack of defensive awareness cost him in the form of two submission losses. Giles did rebound with three straight wins—including managing to survive three rounds with Roman Dolidze—but his defensive issues came back to the forefront in recent years, even after a move down to welterweight in 2022. Wins over Louis Cosce and Preston Parsons did raise some hopes that Giles could find some success as a slow-paced neutralizer, as he was able to remain safe in both fights, but after getting blasted by Gabriel Bonfim in just 73 seconds in July, he has wound up in essentially the same place he was as a middleweight. This attempted rebound against UFC newcomer Carlos Prates looks to be a risky fight, since the Brazilian seems poised to take advantage of Giles’ defensive issues. A pro for over a decade, Prates is a stalking striker with a long frame and enough knockout power to blow through most of his recent opponents. Add in that “The Nightmare” looks to have solid enough grappling to get by, and he figures to be an entertaining divisional stalwart at worst with the potential to make a rise through the ranks. Prates’ gas tank is relatively unproven, so there is the chance that Giles can turn this into a slog early and coast out a victory as a result, but it does seem unlikely things get that far given the Brazilian’s firepower. The pick is Prates via first-round knockout.
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Giles vs. Prates
Oki vs. Cuamba
Suphisara vs. Brasil
Clark vs. Prachnio
Wells vs. Griffin
Pauga vs. Guskov
Amil vs. Garcia
Marcos vs. Aori