ONE Championship and LFA vet Carlos Prates made his octagon debut at UFC Vegas 86, paired up with Trevin Giles in a welterweight pairing.
Prates was a Contender Series winner last year on a seven-fight win streak, while Giles was 2-1 in his last three, but coming off a loss to Gabriel Bonfim.
Turns out, his debut was exactly what the doctor ordered, as Prates woke up those watching at the UFC Apex and at home with a blistering finish, following a number of fights that had underperformed.
Early on, Trevin Giles went chopping at the long legs of Prates. Prates wasn’t letting it bother him as he still stood his ground keeping at his range. Prates just kept throwing the teep keeping Giles at bay. Repeated soft kicks to the knee of Prates landed but Giles was just using it to maintain his range. When Giles did press forward however he had trouble landing clean. Giles was missing a lot but was at least throwing. Prates was composed but perhaps too composed through all of round one.
In round two an inside leg kick and a combo from Giles landed clean. Carlos Prates stepped in with a knee trying to get some respect back. Prates kept going to the well with the front kicks but was throwing nothing after them. When he did throw Giles ducked under the punch and put Prates against the cage. When they separated Prates stepped in again with another hard knee. It was his best strike of the fight but Giles continued to throw more and land more. Just when the fight seemed like it was going in one direction Carlos Prates out of nowhere landed a left straight putting Giles down and out. Just to show it just takes one shot to end the fight. The reaction from all watching was frankly electric.
Official Result: Carlos Prates def. Trevin Giles by knockout (right hand), Round 2, 4:03
