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Leon Edwards vs. Carlos Prates is one incredible fight. We’re one week away from a stacked main card at UFC 322. Two title fights headline Madison Square Garden on Nov. 15: (C) Jack Della Maddalena vs. Islam Makhachev and (C) Valentina Shevchenko vs. Zhang Weili. Welterweight strikers collide before the co-main event as former champion Leon Edwards looks to return to winning ways against ‘Fighting Nerds’ star Carlos Prates. Prates rebounded from his first UFC loss to Ian Machado Garry earlier this year with a violent spinning back elbow KO of Geoff Neal at UFC 319 in August. Edwards has only lost to Belal Muhammad and Sean Brady in his last 15 fights. The 34-year-old once dethroned pound-for-pound king Kamaru Usman with a headkick knockout in 2022. One of the UFC’s best strikers has given his early prediction for Edwards vs. Prates. Michael ‘Venom’ Page picks Leon Edwards over Carlos Prates at UFC 322 Michael ‘Venom’ Page will be watching UFC 322 very closely. Once in the welterweight top-15, the London Shootfighter is now ranked #10 in the UFC middleweight division. However, that doesn’t mean Page has moved on from the idea of fighting both Edwards, his countryman, and Prates. “This is an exciting fight that I’m definitely gonna have my eye on,” Page said of Edwards vs. Prates in an interview with UFC on TNT Sports. “I feel Carlos is an amazing, new, exciting fighter. Somebody I’m happy to fight. “I wanna fight Leon, somebody I’ve already vocalized about wanting to fight just because of the magnitude of what that would mean in the UK. “But them two fighting, Leon’s been on a bit of a decline but against a specific style of fighters. I think, again, people are gonna underestimate him because of that. “This here will be a stand up fight. I do not see Carlos being able to even go towards the ground,” Page continued. “But in reverse, I do feel like Leon has the better ground game, will be able to take him down, will be able to nullify him a little bit and actually beat him up on top just to slow the fighter down, slow the fight down a little bit…” So, what’s Page’s pick for the welterweight matchup? “I feel like it’s leaning towards Leon,” Page said. “There could always be a surprise spinning elbow, you know, a crazy kick that Prates has the ability and the power to be able to pull off. “But Leon is tough, man. He’s not a person that you’re gonna kill easy at all. So it’s definitely heavily in his favor for me,” Page predicted Edwards to win at UFC 322.
