Li Jingliang returned to the cage at UFC 305 to face Carlos Prates, who had not even made his UFC debut when Jingliang last fought.
Prates, Brazil’s newest welterweight prospect, had won both of his UFC fights and his last nine fights overall, with eight straight knockouts in that time. In addition, this fight took place on his birthday. On the other side stood ‘The Leech,’ China’s longest tenured UFC fighter ever who had traded wins and losses equally since 2019.
The southpaw Prates appeared taller and longer than the Leech in the cage. Carlos stalked forward with his left hand poised to throw, but mostly just attacked with leg kicks while they felt each other out. With two minutes left in the first round Carlos Prates threw one of his first power punches, which dropped Jingliang to a knee. It was a flash knockdown at best, but first blood went to the Brazilian.
Carlos slowly let his hands go more and more, while staying defensively sound as Li tried to puncture his guard with combinations. With thirty seconds left Prates dropped Leech, and then again ten seconds later. However, Li got right back up and met fire with fire. He charged forward in the final seconds and connected with his foe’s chin, but got again rocked himself.
After being hurt multiple times in the first round it bore watching whether or not the Jingliang team would change their plans. Leech began the round aggressively while Prates worked to corral him against the fence and land low kicks. Prates rocked him again at one point, and then landed a head kick with half a foot, which Li somehow survived. Thirty seconds later another left hand dropped Leech.
Jingliang got back up and was on the ropes, but the one hitter quitter came soon enough. Li Jingliang was finished by strikes for the first time ever and it took almost a full minute for him to regain consciousness after such a brutal knockout.
With such a highlight reel knockout and an undefeated 3-0 UFC record Carlos Prates can surely expect a ranked opponent in his next fight.
Official Result: Carlos Prates def. Li Jingliang by Knockout (punch), Round 2, 4:02
