UFC Kansas City takes place this Saturday evening. Following a hiatus on the UFC’s schedule for Easter last Saturday, Dana White‘s promotion heads back out on the road. This week, the tour stop is T-Mobile Center in Kansas City for the last UFC card before the calendar turns over to the month of May next Thursday.
Live coverage of UFC Kansas City begins with the prelims Saturday evening at 6 pm ET/ 3 pm PT. Stateside, this undercard will be seen on ESPN+. Main card action follows at 9 pm ET/ 6 pm PT.
Programming Note: ESPN proper is airing UFL football between the Michigan Panthers and St. Louis BattleHawks from The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis. ESPN2 will air Saturday night’s main card.
Absent of any 11th-hour postponements or cancellations to the bout order ahead of Saturday night’s event, the final version of UFC Kansas City will feature 14 contests from MMA’s No. 1 promotion in the world.
UFC Kansas City Main Event: No. 7 Contender Ian Machado Garry vs. No. 13 Contender Carlos Prates
At the top of the bill on Saturday night in Kansas City is a welterweight showdown between two contenders trying to improve their place in the top-15 at 170. No. 7 contender Ian Machado Garry (15-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) makes the walk to the Octagon in a short-notice affair versus No. 13 contender Carlos Prates (21-6 MMA, 4-0 UFC). This is a five-round fight at five minutes per round to close the show.
Ian Machado Garry enters the main event of the evening at UFC Kansas City on Saturday night having posted a record of 4-1 in his last five fights. He’s reeling from his first career defeat last time out.
Back in December, Ian Machado Garry came out on the losing end of a unanimous decision versus Shavkat Rakhmonov (19-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) during the co-main event of UFC 310 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Garry took this contest on 25 days’ notice. Will that prove to be his downfall on Saturday night?
Across the way, Carlos Prates, who threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City on Tuesday night before the Kansas City Royals’ game against the Colorado Rockies, will move from the pitchers’ mound to the cage this weekend having yet to lose thus far in his UFC tenure.
He’s gone 5-0 in his last five contests since his Contender Series appearance in the summer of 2023. Last time out, he scored a first-round knockout with a left hook over Neil Magny (29-13 MMA, 22-12 UFC) on Nov. 9 at the UFC Apex facility in Enterprise, NV.
Prates is on a tear of late. Going into the weekend, he’s currently on an 11-fight winning streak. This is a critical fight for Prates. A win potentially moves him inside the top-10 at welterweight.
UFC Kansas City Co-Main Event: No. 15 Contender Anthony Smith vs. Mingyang Zhang
Immediately beforehand, the co-main event of the evening sees action take place at 205 lbs. Outcome notwithstanding, Saturday’s co-headlining affair of UFC Kansas City will be the 60th and final appearance of No. 15 contender Anthony Smith (38-21 MMA, 13-11 UFC) when he faces Mingyang Zhang (18-6 MMA, 2-0 UFC.) This is a three-round contest at five minutes apiece.
The retiring Anthony Smith will be making his last walk to the Octagon having posted a 2-3 mark in his last five contests. He’s dropped two fights in a row, however, as he heads into his farewell fight.
Most recently, he sustained a second-round knockout by way of ground and pound shots from Dominick Reyes (15-4 MMA, 9-4 UFC) back in December in UFC 310 from Las Vegas. There’s no tomorrow in the Octagon for Anthony Smith after this upcoming fight, so can he ride off into the sunset with a victory on Saturday night in UFC Kansas City?
Meanwhile, Mingyang Zhang is in his third UFC appearance this weekend and a victory over Smith would certainly be a resume-building win in the early days of his tenure in the promotion. Zhang has gone undefeated in his last five fights at 5-0 as part of an ongoing 11-fight winning streak.
Right before Thanksgiving last November, he scored a first-round knockout (elbow to ground and pound) against Ozzy Diaz (10-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) in UFC Macau. Zhang has gotten hot inside the cage at just the right time. Will he spoil Smith’s retirement party?
UFC Kansas City: Giga Chikadze vs. David Onama
Also on the UFC Kansas City main card on Saturday evening, you’ll see a featherweight contest matching Giga Chikadze (15-4 MMA, 8-2 UFC) against David Onama (13-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC). Giga Chikadze enters this weekend’s show with a mark of 3-2 in his last five contests.
At the moment, he’s looking to get back in the win column after having exited the cage on the wrong end of a unanimous decision against Arnold Allen (20-3 MMA, 11-2 UFC) during UFC 304 last July in Manchester. He’s had nine months to think about what went wrong last summer. Can he right the ship this week?
In the other corner, David Onama will be making the walk in familiar territory this Saturday night. Before joining the UFC’s active roster, he fought in FAC in nearby Independence, MO, so Saturday’s fight at UFC Kansas City is a “home game” for Onama, who will be sporting a record of 4-1 in his last five fights, including a three-fight winning streak.
During UFC 309 from Madison Square Garden in New York City, he bested Roberto Romero (8-4-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) by unanimous decision after three rounds of action in the latter’s UFC promotional debut. Onama returns to Kansas City for competition this weekend, but will the community’s favorite son leave the arena a winner?
Final Thoughts
Which main card fight or fights are you looking forward to on UFC Kansas City this Saturday night? Let us know in the comments.
