Carlos Prates enters flow state, stops Jack Della Maddalena at UFC Perth

There was simply no stopping Carlos Prates at UFC Perth.

The dangerous and rangy knockout artist picked up his third consecutive stoppage win Saturday in a Fight Night main event against former welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena.

Prates improved to 7-1 in the UFC, with all seven of his victories coming by knockout or technical knockout.

The 32-year-old became the first fighter to stop Della Maddalena at the UFC level and dubbed himself the new No. 1 contender at 170 pounds after felling the former titleholder in Australia.

Prates earned his third first-round KO/TKO win in the past 8.5 months and did so in style.

Della Maddalena walked to the cage with the entire crowd at RAC Arena singing along loudly to his entrance music – AC/DC’s hit song “T.N.T.” – and immediately began staring down Prates, who got right in the Aussie’s face in the cage prior to the fight.

Once the action began, Prates had a strong opening round and was building momentum until Della Maddalena mixed up his attack and landed a takedown in the final minute of the first round.

Shortly after defending a takedown and a quick submission attempt from JDM early in the second, Prates stunned the former champ with a series of Muay Thai knees and straight left hands. Prates was walking Della Maddalena down towards the end of Round 2 and chopped him to the canvas in the final seconds with a vicious calf kick.

The third round began with Prates operating from a flow state, his fluid movement and constant pressure putting the home fighter and recent titleholder in a blender.

Prates continued landing stinging shots. A head kick put Della Maddalena off balance, and Prates consistently clubbed his opponent with left punches and elbows over and around the guard. Another slicing calf kick sent JDM falling to the mat again, and this time, instead of letting him back to his feet, Prates followed up with ground strikes until the referee stepped in.

Della Maddalena began his UFC tenure 8-0 and won the title 11.5 months ago when he defeated Belal Muhammad at UFC 315. He failed to defend the belt and had an 18-fight pro winning streak snapped by Islam Makhachev via decision at UFC 322 in November.

The 29-year-old is from Perth and hadn’t fought in his home country in three years. Della Maddalena entered the weekend officially as the No. 1 contender at welterweight, but that will change next week when the rankings update and Prates moves up from No. 5.

Prates’s only loss in the UFC to date was a five-round decision to No. 2 contender Ian Machado Garry 12 months ago. Although Prates lost a decision that night, he ended that contest by nearly stopping Machado Garry late in the final round. He rebounded with highlight-reel knockouts of Geoff Neal and another former champion, Leon Edwards.

His back-to-back stoppage wins over former champs Edwards and Della Maddalena have sent a clear message to the rest of the division that Prates is a threat to the title.

Makhachev does not yet have his next challenger lined up. Machado Garry is the would-be frontrunner with Prates, Michael Morales and former longtime champ Kamaru Usman all also pushing for the next shot.

Della Maddalena was one of three Perth natives to compete and the only one to fall short, with lightweight Quillan Salkilld and flyweight Steve Erceg both earning wins on the undercard.

Saturday’s 13-bout card marked the fourth consecutive year the UFC has held an event at RAC Arena in Perth. Della Maddalena was one of 13 Australian-based fighters on the card.

It was the second UFC event to take place in Australia in 2026 after UFC 325 went down in Sydney in late January.

Unlike most UFC events that take place in Australia, this weekend's card wasn't catered to a North American audience. Instead, the local crowd got to experience the event in primetime and fans in Canada and North America had to wake up early to watch live instead of vice versa.