Carlos Prates handed brutal reality check about his cigarette smoking habits following UFC Kansas City loss to Ian Garry

As welterweight contender Carlos Prates faced his first loss in the UFC against Ian Machado Garry, concerns about the negative impact of his smoking habit on his performance have surfaced once again. Prates is known to be a heavy smoker, lighting up eight to 10 cigarettes even during fight camp.

Although he did not show signs of extreme fatigue in the later rounds, retired MMA fighter and analyst Josh Thomson believes Prates could have performed better and produced more output if he were to quit smoking.

While analysing the UFC Kansas City results in the recent episode of the Weighing In podcast, Thomson stated:

"If you would've gone earlier, in just spurts, not even a lot, and made him shoot more often, [Garry] would have been a lot more tired. Like, down the stretch, you would have had more success. But the lesson I learned from watching Prates, man... You should probably stop smoking. You were so close."

He added:

"I was like, 'Man, if you quit smoking, you'd have a little more output.' Just different ways of looking at it, right? It looked like he had the cardio but..."

Check out Josh Thomson's comments below (24:50):

Fellow welterweight Geoff Neal had also highlighted Prates' smoking as a potential limiting factor while discussing the fight in a recent interview. However, Prates, while speaking to Ariel Helwani a few days ago, expressed the desire to reduce the habit in order to gain size and strength, as well as to maintain overall health outside of MMA training.

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Josh Thomson on another factor causing Carlos Prates fighting conservatively against Ian Machado Garry

In his UFC Kansas City fight against Ian Machado Garry, Prates was the less active fighter, averaging less than ten significant strikes per round. Although he rallied at the end and nearly secured a finish, Garry managed to survive and win the fight on the scorecards.

The Irish fighter's lateral movement, takedown threat and speed appeared to have disrupted Prates' game. However, Josh Thomson, in the aforementioned episode of the Weighing In podcast, shared his perspective on why Prates may have fought more conservatively against Garry, stating:

"I think, also to a lot of people that fight Ian Machado Garry, they look at him almost like a Colby Covington. They really don't want to lose to him." [26:15]

Thomson added that while Covington did not possess a serious knockout threat, Garry's striking prowess make him dangerous in that area, adding:

"What you have to worry about though, is, Ian Garry will knock you out. So fighters that fight him, because he talks so much, they do not want to lose to him. So they fight a little more conservative than they would normally fight." [26:38]

As of now, Prates has not released a statement regarding his performance. Meanwhile, Garry revealed that he would serve as the back-up fighter for the upcoming welterweight title clash between champion Belal Muhammad and No.5-ranked Jack Della Maddalena, scheduled for UFC 315 on May 10.