Brazil’s Carlos Prates is set to step into his first main event spotlight this weekend when he faces ranked welterweight Neil Magny at the UFC Apex. The Brazilian has been phenomenal since he arrived in the promotion and made an early impression.
Prates was one of the highlights of last year’s season of the Contender Series where he stopped Mitch Ramirez in another big win for the Fighting Nerds team. The 31-year olds striking was so accurate and dangerous that his performance earned him a huge compliment from the boss.
When Dana White announced that Prates would be joining the UFC’s welterweight roster, he compared him to one of the all-time greats by saying that his striking reminded him of a prime Anderson Silva. Since then, he has produced three wins inside the Octagon with finishes and performance of the night bonuses in each of them.
In a recent interview with Kevin Iole, the rising welterweight contender was asked about what it was like to receive this kind of comparison and whether it added any additional pressure to his shoulders. For a Brazilian fighter to be compared to the former long-reigning middleweight champion, a compliment simply doesn’t get much bigger.
However, Prates was able to take this in his stride and continue to do what he does best. He hopes that in many years when he’s created his own legacy in the sport, he will become a bench mark for fighters to be measured against like “The Spider” has been for so many.
“It’s good, I don’t feel any pressure to be honest. I just step inside of the cage and try to do my best. I can win the fight but if I didn’t give my best, I’m not happy, you know. All the time I look to do my best and of course I hear about I look like Anderson Silva. It’s really nice but I’m working hard to maybe in five years or ten years, Dana White coming to another guy and say, ‘Hey, that guy looks like Carlos Prates in his prime.’”
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