Carlos Prates guarantees he is capable of knocking out Conor McGregor

The Irishman has been raising rumors about resuming his MMA career for a long time and even had a fight scheduled against Michael Chandler in 2024, but withdrew at the last minute. The White House card, however, piqued his interest a lot.

Away from the octagons since 2021, this possible return would not happen in the lightweight division, his former category; it would be at welterweight, one above. And Prates was mentioned as a possible name to face him, but the Brazilian himself doesn’t see much point in that.

“McGregor has been fighting for five years, retired, and he wouldn’t come back against the most exciting welterweight in the world. Everyone knows, I know, he knows, that I would hurt him a lot, knock him out. It’s not the right way to bring a big star back,” explained the Fighting Nerds smoker, on his own Instagram profile.

Furthermore, the Brazilian is focused on the category belt. His next target is already well defined, even without a response from the UFC for the fight: Jack Della Maddalena, former welterweight champion.

Will McGregor return to the UFC?

After needing to withdraw from the fight against Chandler in 2024, McGregor’s return to the UFC no longer seemed like a possible dream, at least until the announcement of the White House card, in which he asked to fight.

But at this point, a return would not be so simple. Ultimate’s new agreement with Paramount+ annulled Conor’s contract with the organization as soon as it came into force, on January 1, 2026. To return, the former champion needs to begin major negotiations with Dana White and the entire company.

Even without a contract, however, he showed that this time, the return looks serious. This past Tuesday (24), TNT Sports released a video in which McGregor appears training hard to return to the octagon.