While Carlos Prates (20-9) is one of the most exciting welterweight prospects in the UFC today, his early career wasn't as promising.
Prates made his pro debut in 2012 and went 5-4 in his first nine bouts, alternating between wins and losses. However, "The Nightmare" has since turned his career around, winning 15 of his last 17 with 14 finishes. Prates credits the time he spent in Thailand for the abrupt turnaround in his career. The Brazilian also admits that he was still very young and susceptible to making mistakes during the early phase of his career.
"I think after I spend a lot of time in Thailand because Thailand give me a lot of experience," Prates recently told Kevin Iole. "And make me more confident to fight [in] muay thai or MMA. Also, I was really young when I was losing a lot. And was fighting in wrong weight division. And didn't train too much, spend a lot of time with things that don't make me better. Then I get a little bit old, more confident and things like that."
Prates earned his UFC contract with a knockout win on Dana White's Contender Series last year and has since racked up three-fight finishing streak. Prates' win over Mitch Ramirez on the Contender Series earned him a comparison to the legendary Anderson Silva from Dana White. While Prates welcomes the comparison, he doesn't feel any pressure to live up to expectations. The 31-year-old also hopes to become a benchmark for comparison like Silva in his UFC career.
"I don't feel any pressure to be honest," he said. "I just step inside of the cage and try to do my best... We hear about I look like Anderson Silva, it's really nice. But I work hard to, maybe in five years, 10 years, Dana White coming to another guy and say, 'Hey that guy look like a Carlos Prates in his prime.'"
Prates is scheduled to headline UFC Vegas 100 -- also known as UFC Fight Night 247 -- against veteran Neil Magny (26-12) at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday. Prates hopes to be ranked in the Top 15 with a potential win.
"I deserve to be ranked if I win against Magny," he said. "If I don't get the win, I don't deserve. But I think so, I think I'm gonna fight Neil Magny, I'm gonna knock him out. With all due respect, he looks like a really nice guy. But it's business is what it is."