Carlos Prates adjusts strategy after defeat, but maintains the same objective at UFC 319: 'Now there are several options'

Ian Garry defeated Carlos Prates at UFC Kansas. Photo: Instagram / UFC

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Carlos Prates is determined to evolve his game to reach the top of the UFC. The representative of the Fighting Nerds team achieved four knockout victories in his first appearances in the octagon, but was ultimately defeated by Ian Garry in a fight marked by strategy. The setback made the athlete rethink his approach and seek new alternatives to maintain his aggressive style.

Participating in the podcast 'Overdogs Brasil', Prates emphasized that his main objective remains to knock out his opponents, but admitted that, after the defeat to Garry, he began to see more ways to achieve this outcome.

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“The strategy is the same: go there and knock him out. But I think the methods may have changed. Maybe we have more options now. Before, I only saw one thing, and now we see several other options to go there and knock him out. Different ways to build the knockout differently,” said Carlos Prates.

Among the new possibilities, the athlete is considering adopting a more intense pace to wear down his opponent throughout the fight. Although he trains extensively in takedowns and back control, Prates believes that the constant pressure, combined with takedowns, cage work, and striking sequences, could be a challenge, especially since many still question his physical fitness.

"I might not even try for takedowns or backs, which is something I train a lot for. But I think maybe tiring out my opponents, applying pressure to enter a takedown, releasing, striking a bit, grabbing, tiring them against the fence, striking again... It's a strategy that's been attracting me, making me excited, because I've been able to do it in training. And nobody counts on that, because people still have this idea that 'oh, he's smoking, he'll get tired.' And that's not how it works," concluded the Fighting Nerds representative.

Carlos Prates will have the opportunity to put this evolution into practice on August 16th, when he faces Geoff Neal at UFC 319 in Chicago. The fight was originally scheduled for UFC 314 , but had to be postponed after the American withdrew due to injury.

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