UFC Kansas City predictions: Prelim and main card picks for Ian Garry vs. Carlos Prates

Kansas City does nothing better than barbecue and fighting.The UFC returns to the City of Fountains on Saturday for a big-time fight card that The Post’s Scott Fontana projects to be one of the best Fight Night cards of the year, with an event rating of 32 per his exclusive rating system.An obscene 14 fights await us at UFC Kansas City, and there are plenty of ways to wager on the card.Below, we get into our best bets and betting strategy for UFC Kansas City, beginning at 6 p.m.

ET, with the prelims on ESPN+ and switching to ESPN2 for the main card.Ian “Machado” Garry could be approaching superstar level with a win over Carlos Prates, who’s enjoying a meteoric rise.Prates, who is with the “Fighting Nerds” team that also boasts contender Caio Borralho, has been improving dramatically over the course of his career.He has clear knockout power and is exhibits high-level technique on his feet.Garry will need to avoid the power early, as it could spell problems for him if he is getting clipped consistently.Prates should be able to jump on Garry early, as he has shown to be hittable at different points of his career.Where this gets dicey for Prates, who is a +105 underdog, is his completely untested cardio.He has said he doesn’t like fighting full three-round fights because he gets tired.Well, now Prates is saddled with a five-round fight against a top contender in the welterweight division.Still, I’m far from convinced that Prates is incapable of going five rounds.In fact, I’d say Prates gets ahead early here in the first two rounds and could steal one more as Garry takes damage from the extremely violent muai thai fighter.

Grab fight goes the distance here at +162 odds, and don’t be afraid to bet on a far too wide of a decision line in favor of Prates.PICK: Fight goes the distance (+162, FanDuel) | Prates by decision (+750, DraftKings)It wasn’t long ago that Giga Chikadze was climbing up the ranks as a potential UFC title challenger.A few losses a...