Carlo Prater defends himself: “I didn’t just lie on the floor for nothing”

Ten years and 40 fights after starting in MMA, Carlos Prater had the chance to fulfill a dream: to play for the UFC. Escalated to face Erick silva in the second edition of UFC Rio, Prater ended up becoming involved in the biggest controversy of the event when he was declared the winner due to his opponent being disqualified.

On that occasion, Erick knocked out Carlo in less than 30 seconds of fighting. Still inside the octagon, referee Mario Yamasaki announced that the native of Espírito Santo had thrown blows at the back of the São Paulo native's head and thus made Prater the winner by disqualification. Many contested the decision and Wallid Ismail, Silva's manager, filed a request with the UFC to change the result to I didn't answer (no results). The UFC did not accept the appeal and maintained what was decided by Yamasaki.

Days after the incident, Carlo finally spoke out. In an interview with Globoesporte.com, the fighter said that referee Mario Yamasaki “acted right” by stopping the fight:

“I didn’t just lie on the ground for nothing. Let it be clear. I stayed in the hospital until Monday. They asked me to hush it up because, in fact, it doesn't add anything to me or Erick. (…) Looking at the video, I could see that there were at least nine blows to the back of the head. They are illegal.”

Prater also said that there is no problem with Erick silva. Regarding commentator Joe Rogan, who tried to show the referee that the blows thrown by Erick were not illegal, Carlo declared:

“I think the way Joe Rogan acted was completely unethical. He appealed to the nationalism of that moment. He let the audience carry him away. A true professional doesn't do that. He was a fan and was supposed to act as a commentator. Mário is a million times more competent than Joe Rogan. He has been fighting for 20 years. Joe Rogan is a “cool guy”, a friend of the crowd. He doesn't know anything about fighting. But nothing against it, human beings make mistakes and I have no resentment.”

Photo: Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC