Carlos Prates could have been a hit or puffing away from finishing Ian Machado Garry in UFC Kansas City.
The Core Four Fighting Nerds are no longer unbeaten with Carlos Prates that loses his first fight in the Octagon in UFC Kansas City.
Prates had a big momentum on the way to his second main event against the #7-ranged Ian Machado Garry on Saturday and went 4-0 with four KOs in 2024 while he smoked cigarettes among his fighting.
Pratates planned for five rounds in the biggest fight of his career against Machado Garry, Prates did not dump his smoking habit, consisting of 10-15 cigarettes on a 'normal day' for the Brazilian.
Prates smoked a little fewer packs and let Prates almost beat Machado Garry on Fight Night with the Irishman who was seriously injured in his attacks and crawl on the canvas.
Both men extremely tired in the last minute of the fight, Machado Garry eventually survived prates to win through a unanimous decision, leaving a former UFC light weight candidate to wonder why Prates really lost.
Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC
Josh Thomson tells Carlos Prates to quit smoking after almost finish
A veteran from UFC, Strikeforce and Bellator and the only man who finishes Nate Diaz with strikes, Josh Thomson believes that the smoking habit of Prates may have influenced his cardio in the last part.
“The lesson I learned by viewing Prates, you probably have to stop smoking,” said Thomson on the weighing in Podcast.
'You were so close …
“If you stop smoking, you would have a little more output.
“There are different ways to look at it. He looked like he had the cardio, but he was exhausted in the fifth. Of course he tried to get him away there. But everything he had to do, it just felt like he was just a little more. [bit]”Said Thomson about the almost finish of Prates.
Josh Thomson about why Carlos Prates looked 'gun-shy'
Looking back on the fight, Thomson says that the performance of prates and the low output of strikes in the early rounds can vary between a few different factors, from the speed of Machado Garry and the lateral movement to the cardio of the fighting nerd that is spent on cigarettes.
Anyway, Thomson says: “If you are talkers, you have to kick yourself in the ass.
“Whether it is because you didn't have the cardio to push a little harder or and because you smoke or just really was a pistol, because the speed threw you away or you just gave them too much respect …
“One of the two,” said Thomson about why Prates lost to Machado Garry.
“But whatever you do, you just wake up tomorrow morning and go back and look at the fight and point out:” Damn, I could have done this, I could have done that … “”