UFC fighters in Brazil today Carlos
Prates was recently invited to appear on one of Brazil’s most
popular podcasts: Podpah, a YouTube channel with almost 10 million
subscribers.
In a two-hour conversation, Prates drank four beers and smoked two
cigarettes, reminiscing about his entire journey and eliciting
laughter from both hosts with his usual candor. According to
The Fighting Nerds product, his entry into fighting was an
alternative found by his mother due to his difficulties at
school.
“My mother is a teacher, and since I was very difficult and had
learning difficulties, she decided to take me to a psychologist
when I was 8 years old, where I was diagnosed with ADHD (Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder),” Prates said. “Once she saw me
engrossed in watching a DVD of Wanderlei
Silva fighting Yuki Kondo in
Pride, and noticed my interest in fighting, [she] decided to enroll
me in a muay thai school.”
In martial arts, Prates began to stand out and found his path. At
age 22, when he already had nine MMA fights — four losses and five
wins — he knew that improving his striking ability would be a
turning point in his career. He saw an advertisement on Facebook
for a six-month camp in Thailand for $3,000, and with his mother’s
financial help, he left for the land of muay thai.
“It was supposed to be six months, and I stayed six years. In the
first month alone, I had six fights,” said Prates, estimating that
today he has around 140 fights, including both muay thai and
MMA.
The experience of fighting more than once a week to support himself
in Thailand brought Prates, in addition to calmness, the experience
of fighting injured.
“It’s very difficult for a high-performance athlete to arrive at a
fight after a tough camp without any injuries. In the fight with
[Jack Della] Maddalena, for example, I had a partial tear of the
ligament in my right shoulder and couldn’t raise my arm above my
head,” said Prates, also acknowledging that before this fight he
“overdid it with the partying” during the break he usually takes
between camps.
“This time I went a little overboard. I fought [Leon] Edwards in
November and only went back to training for JDM in February. Since
I arrived in the UFC, I’ve never spent so much time away from the
gym, totally off.”
Here for a Good Time, Not a Long Time
Prates also said that he believes he will be the next to fight for
the belt against the winner of Ian Garry and
Islam
Makhachev. Should he capture welterweight gold, Prates has no
designs on setting any records for championship longevity.
“Hell no. I’m 32 years old, I want to fight until I’m 35,” he said.
“After the belt, do some more super fights and that’s good.”
One super fight that intrigues Prates is a matchup against current
UFC lightweight champ Ilia
Topuria.
“It would be a great fight,” Prates said. “But think I can make it
difficult for him with my reach advantage.”