Leon Edwards vs Carlos Prates booked for UFC 322
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to Madison Square Garden, New York City this fall on November 15, 2025, for UFC 322, headlined by a welterweight title bout between UFC welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena (18-2) and former UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev (27-1).
In addition to a 125 lb championship co-headliner between UFC flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko (25-4-1) and former UFC strawweight champion Weili Zhang (26-3), the matchmakers have also booked a very intriguing welterweight bout between no. 4 ranked former champion Leon Edwards (22-5) and no. 9 ranked Carlos Prates (22-7).
Birmingham, England’s Leon Edwards comes into this bout off a two-fight losing skid, having lost his title to Belal Muhammad (UD) in July of last year, before suffering another setback to no. 2 ranked Sean Brady (guillotine choke) earlier this year in March, marking the first time he’d been finished in his career.
Going into his third title defense opposing Muhammad, Edwards was riding a 13-fight unbeaten streak from 2016 to 2023, most notably defeating Vicente Luque (UD), Donald Cerrone (UD), former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos (UD), Nate Diaz (UD), then former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman twice (KO, MD) and Colby Covington (UD) in his first three title bouts.
Sao Paulo, Brazil’s Carlos Prates on the other hand, following a successful Muay Thai career where he held many titles, has put the UFC’s welterweight division on notice since joining the promotion in February of last year.
This began with four straight wins over the likes of Trevin Giles (KO), Charles Radtke (KO), Li Jingliang (KO), and Neil Magny (KO), before suffering defeat to no. 6 ranked Ian Garry (UD) earlier this year in April, nearly winning that fight via knockout as well in the fifth and final round of their encounter.
Prates has since rebounded with another stunning finish two weeks ago when he stopped Geoff Neal (KO) with a spinning back elbow at UFC 319, marking his fifth Performance of the Night bonus in five promotional victories.
Does the former champion get back to his winning ways come November, or does the surging kickboxing champion keep edging his way closer to a welterweight title shot?
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