Carlos Prates is getting paid like a star, and he's not shy about saying so. The welterweight contender told Sherdog his new UFC contract pays him more than $1 million per fight, a number that lines up with a thread on r/MMA describing an eight fight deal built around that same guarantee.

It's easy to see why the UFC opened the checkbook. Prates is ranked number two at welterweight and just stopped Jack Della Maddalena with elbows in the third round on May 2, 2026. He rates 1620 on our Elo through nine bouts, among the better marks in the division, and that run has earned him a shot at the belt.

He takes on Michael Morales, the unbeaten number three ranked contender, at UFC 336: Van vs. Kape on January 30, 2027. Our own model leans the same way, giving Prates 60 percent to Morales' 40, which the model tags as only a slight edge.

Money clearly isn't what's driving Prates into that cage. "Do I want a big money boxing match? I really want the UFC belt," he said. 'I really want to see how it is to be UFC champion, how it is to be, on that night... I wanna feel this, how happy I will be. I don't care about money. Of course money is really good, but for me it doesn't matter.' He put it even more simply elsewhere, saying, 'I'm addicted to winning.'

For Morales, the fight is a chance to hand Prates his first loss in this stretch and announce himself as the new face of the division. For Prates, beating an unbeaten top contender while cashing eight figure paydays would be the clearest signal yet that welterweight runs through him now.