Outside Source
Carlos Prates is among the top contenders in the UFC’s welterweight division. | Getty/UFC
After an impressive streak of seven fights and six knockout victories in just 20 months in the UFC, Brazilian Carlos Prates will spend the next two weeks giving seminars in Europe.
“I fought in August and November. My idea was to spend the end-of-year holidays and Carnival and return to the Octagon in April. But if the red phone rings and it’s a fight that interests me, I’ll be ready,” Prates told Sherdog.com.
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Currently sixth in the UFC rankings, The Fighting Nerds product believes he will have to fight one more time before a title shot.
“Based on the results of the last fights, I believe the UFC will match Usman and Islam; Morales vs. Garry and Me vs Maddalena,” the Brazilian said.
In the meantime, Prates will serve as a guest fighter during the fight week for UFC 325 in Sydney, Australia, in January.
“I’m going to take the opportunity to see my daughter who lives there. As I said, my idea was to return for the numbered event in April. But I’m still training, and if Maddalena is on the card on Jan. 31, I’ll raise my hand and make myself available,” Prates said.
Prates is confident that he matches up well with the former welterweight champion.
“Great matchup for me. Southpaw against southpaw,” he said. “ I only see one result, a KO and a title shot. But as I said, the ideal for me would be me and Maddalena in the numbered April event.”
Various Scenarios
The Fighting Nerd doesn’t show the same certainty when asked to point out the worst matchup in the division, with the exception of himself, for champion Islam Makhachev.”
“That’s a difficult question,” he said. “I’ve never seen Morales’ grappling, but despite knocking out several [opponents], he has wrestling as a background. I’ve seen both in person and Morales is much bigger than Makhachev. Maybe Ian Garry; I’ve trained with Yaroslav [Amosov], who is coming to the UFC and he’s very tough and very good at wrestling. Our category is full of tough guys, it’s very difficult to point out just one.”
Prates has a sense of humor when it comes to explaining why he believes Kamaru Usman will receive the next welterweight title shot.
“He’s the GOAT of the division. He is that guy who, there is a huge line at the nightclub, but he’s friends with the owner and he doesn’t even have to wait in line,” Prates quipped.
The Brazilian fighter also spoke about how he imagines a fight between him and Morales.
“Since he’s been knocking out all his opponents, I believe he wouldn’t shy away from striking, but after three minutes of fighting he’d change his mind and prefer to take me down,” Prates said.
Finally, Prates analyzed the recently-announced fight between teammate Jean Silva and Arnold Allen.
“Allen is a very tough guy but lacks consistency,” Prates said. “I believe Jean won’t have any problems. He’ll fight a bit standing up, defend some takedowns, land a knockout and then go for a title shot against the winner of Volkanovski and Lopes.”
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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