Sean Brady reveals why Michael Morales could pose a bigger threat to Islam Makhachev than Carlos Prates
Sean Brady believes Michael Morales could give Islam Makhachev a tougher fight than Carlos Prates and explained why he favors the undefeated welterweight.
After successfully defending his welterweight title against Ian Machado Garry at UFC 330, Islam Makhachev is expected to face either Carlos Prates or Michael Morales in his next UFC assignment. The discussion in the MMA world has been going on about who among them is the rightful contender or could pose a serious threat and do the unimaginable by dethroning the pound-for-pound king from the 170-pound throne.
Recently, another welterweight contender, Sean Brady, weighed in on the ongoing discussion and explained why he believes Morales could have a better chance of defeating Makhachev than Prates.
Sean Brady picks Michael Morales over Carlos Prates as the tougher challenge for Islam Makhachev
In his recent interview with Ariel Helwani, Brady acknowledged Prates' knockout power but gave Morales an edge as potentially a bigger danger to Makhachev. He stressed that his opinion doesn't stem from having suffered a loss to the undefeated welterweight. And maintain that his conclusion is based on what he has seen from both contenders.
“I think Prates can knock anybody out, for sure,” Brady told Ariel Helwani. “Out of Prates and Morales, everyone’s gonna say I’m biased because I lost to Morales, but I think Morales will give Islam a harder time.
Brady shared that his opinion was shaped because he had studied Prate's fight as he was asking the promotion to set their fight. He explained that when he was studying, he found footage from ‘The Nightmare's time in ONE Championship showed opponents successfully taking him down and controlling him on the ground, and believes Makhachev will do the same with him.
Brady explained, “I was asking for the Carlos Prates fight, so I’ve gone back and done the tape study on him, where I’ve seen guys in One FC take him down and beat him on the ground. I think Islam will be able to do the same thing.”
Carlos Prates has the stronger case for a title shot despite Sean Brady’s pick of Michael Morales
The American, however, feels Morales presents a different challenge. The Ecuadorian has not yet been fully tested in certain areas that leave unanswered questions about how he would perform, and Brady believes that can give him an edge in the fight against an elite grappler like Makhachev.
“Whereas with Morales, we still don’t know how good he is. We still don’t know how good his ground game is. We don’t know how good his cardio is. We don’t know all these things, and I think that’s gonna play a lot more of a factor.”
Check out Sean Brady’s comments below:
Prates has a higher chance of getting the next title shot, as Makhachev and his team have previously shown interest in the fight, and the Brazilian has secured dominant knockout victories over two former 170-pound champions, Leon Edwards and Jack Della Maddalena. The Dagestani star has even said that Morales needs to fight and get a victory to cement himself as the next challenger for the belt.
