Carlos Prates Says He Became a Fighter to Escape Regular 9-5 Work
Carlos Prates did not grow up mapping out a career in mixed martial arts. The No. 2 UFC welterweight told Ariel Helwani he became a fighter because a regular 9-5 job never sat right with him.
The comments came in a clip from The Ariel Helwani Show, and they arrived from a fighter who has spent the last year finishing former champions. Prates is 24-7 as a professional and 7-1 inside the Octagon, with knockouts in every UFC win.
The 33-year-old Brazilian trains out of The Fighting Nerds and sits just behind Ian Machado Garry in the official welterweight rankings, with Islam Makhachev holding the championship. His last outing was a third-round TKO of former titleholder Jack Della Maddalena on May 2 in Perth.
That stoppage, at 3:17 of Round 3, followed a second-round knockout of Leon Edwards at UFC 322 and a first-round knockout of Geoff Neal at UFC 319. The only loss on his UFC record is a five-round unanimous decision to Machado Garry on April 26, 2025.
Helwani asked Prates what he wanted to do as a little kid and what his dream was. The answer was not a gym, a belt, or a fight poster.
“I never talked about to be like an athlete. Never.”
Prates said work only interested him if it meant making money. After his first job, he said he saw how much he disliked the hours, a boss, and the idea of doing that kind of shift in an office or anywhere else.
That first taste of regular work is what sent him into fighting.
“So that’s why I become a fighter.”
Helwani asked what the job actually was. Prates described a flower shop and a delivery route.
“Ah, first, I work at the like a flower store, you know? Like I did deliveries to bring the flowers and things like that.”
Helwani followed up and asked if he disliked it. Prates did not need time to think.
“No, bro.”
The reason was the clock. Eight hours felt like too much.
“Eight hours, eight hours per day, work eight hours per day, bro. I don’t like delivering flowers to people.”
The line was blunt, but it was tied to something closer to home. Prates said he watched his mother work through his childhood in Brazil.
He described her as a teacher who put in morning, afternoon, and night. That example, he said, stayed with him.
“She was a teacher, you know, and she worked a lot. That’s why I born tired already.”
That version of his path also matches what the UFC already has on file. His official biography says his mother took him to a gym at 15 after he was making bad choices, hoping martial arts would settle him down.
He turned professional in 2012 and made his Octagon debut on Feb. 10, 2024. He now holds black belts in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and Muay Thai, and 19 of his 24 wins have come by knockout.
The man nicknamed The Nightmare has never sold himself as a polished company guy. Fighting became the job that stuck after ordinary work did not.
UFC records show he has earned a bonus in all seven of his promotional wins. He has also finished his last 13 victories by KO or TKO.
That streak is why the clip is more than a throwaway story about a bad first job. A ranked knockout artist who could not stand eight-hour shifts is now one of the central names in the welterweight title picture.
Makhachev defended the belt against Machado Garry at UFC 330 this past Saturday. Prates was in attendance, and he has said on Helwani’s show that he believes he is next after signing a new contract.
Nothing has been made official. Undefeated contender Michael Morales, ranked No. 3, is still part of the same conversation.
Prates has not fought since May, and Makhachev’s next defense has not been booked. If the UFC follows the ranking and Prates’ own comments, the fighter who left flower deliveries behind could be next in line for welterweight gold.