KO artist Carlos Prates thinks Michael Chandler might steal his next performance bonus.
4-0 last year, all of his fights ending by knockout, rising UFC Welterweight contender Carlos Prates is gunning for his fifth-straight performance bonus at UFC 314 in Miami. There, Prates will face off against the heavy-handed #10 contender Geoff Neal.
Prates’ promotional debut came a little more than a year ago and the Brazilian standout has made $200,000 off of performance bonuses alone. Prates earned his last $50,000 paycheck in brutal fashion, smoking perennial contender Neil Magny with a left hook in November for his 16th career KO.
Ahead of a super-stacked card at UFC 314 headlined by Alexander Volkanovski vs. Diego Lopes, Prates knows he will have some stiff competition for the bonuses this time around, especially with the all-action Michael Chandler, who’s eager to prove a point against Paddy Pimblett.
- READ MORE: Paddy Pimblett is 100 percent sure his chin won’t be cracked by Michael Chandler at UFC 314
‘Let me get it’ … Carlos Prates & Michael Chandler competing for extra $50K at UFC 314
Famously booked against Conor McGregor last year, former Bellator Lightweight Champion Chandler has 5 performance bonuses across his six UFC fights, getting fight-of-the-night honors his last time out against Charles Oliveira at UFC 309.
Chandler is scheduled to meet outspoken contender Paddy ‘The Baddy’ Pimblett in the co-main event of UFC 314 next month, aiming to steal the show as he always does… but so is Carlos Prates.
“Hey, you’re a freaking stud,” Chandler told Prates in a video posted to his YouTube channel. “You’re trying to come for knockout of the night? Me too. Let me get it.”
Prates replied: “I’m not [going to] promise but maybe we both can get it.”
“That’s what I told Jon Jones on the last one. I said, ‘Hey listen, I’m sorry to tell you this, but I’m gonna steal the show…’ You gonna have that attitude, right?” Chandler asked.
Carlos Prates tells Michael Chandler to pull his punches with Paddy Pimblett
Just four fights into his UFC career, Prates referenced the pay difference between him and former title challenger Chandler, whose road to the UFC was longer than most and as a result, gets paid infinitely better than other newcomers.
For his own sake, Prates hopes Chandler doesn’t end up KO’ing Paddy Pimblett on fight night.
“You [were] a Bellator champ. You had many fights in UFC. You have good contract now,” Prates told Chandler. “I’m trying to be millionaire in Brazil, so please, do some submission or something like that. Don’t knock him out.”
Chandler wouldn’t make the Fighting Nerds star any promises but he could see a world in which they both win big at UFC 314.
“I come to steal the show and get all the bonuses…good thing there are multiple,” Chandler wrote on ‘X’.
Carlos Prates and Michael Chandler aren’t the only fan-favorites fighting at UFC 314 with Alexander Volkanovski, Diego Lopes, Jean Silva, Yair Rodriguez and many others looking to show out in Miami.