Ten straight knockout wins brings with it a sense of confidence.
Later this month in the hastily-assembled UFC Kansas main event, Brazil’s Carlos Prates will seek to score the biggest victory of his career when he takes on the welterweight title contender Ian Machado Garry in a bout that, typical of the Irishman, comes with more than a little rancour associated with it.
Garry will enter the bout on the back of his first-ever professional loss, a decision defeat to the undefeated Shavkat Rakhmonov last December. And in Prates, Garry will take on one of the most robust finishers in the 170-pound weight class.
Garry has already accused Prates of being a ‘quitter,’ releasing a video to social media of Prates retiring from a fight very early in his career.
But as far as he is concerned, this type of fight promotion is par for the course when you sign your name to a bout agreement opposite the 15-1 Dubliner.
“We already expected that to happen,” Garry said of the pre-fight promotion, according to MMA Fighting. “It’s normal for him to do it. He probably has a lot of free time. I don’t, brother. All the time I’m training, I’m doing my stuff, I’m doing interviews, I’m focused on the fight. But that’s part of the game.
“He wants to sell the fight, to be more known, to be hyped. I think that’s also important, it’s part of the game, like I said in my video. I think it’s interesting.”
Garry has cut a very motivated figure as he rebounds from the disappointment of his maiden career loss, vowing to take his frustrations out on Prates — but conversely, the Brazilian says that he will happily pass on a lesson to Garry in the cage that he suggests will stand him in good stead for the remainder of his career.
“Let’s see after the fight,” Prates said. “We have [nine] days left before the fight, [nine] days for the cage door to be closed and no one says anything anymore. And we’ll get it done the way it’s supposed to. And I guarantee you he’ll be thanking me. Deep in there, he knows I picked this fight. I gave him the main event.”
“He’s in the UFC for four years, if I’m not mistaken, and never headlined a card,” Prates explained
“He only won one bonus, poor guy. And now he has the opportunity to be the main event, an opportunity to make more money. First, because he took this fight on short notice only because they offered him a lot of money. And second, he’s the main event. After this fight, even though he’ll get a beating, he’ll thank me for the opportunity I gave him to make good money.”
