Coach Cristian
Nogueira believes Carlos
Prates will make quick work of Michael
Morales.
Prates (24-7) is scheduled to face Morales (19-0) for the
Ultimate Fighting Championship interim welterweight title at
UFC
336 on Jan. 30 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
Cristian Nogueira explains Carlos Prates‘ UFC 336 training
changes and predicts a second-round finish against Michael
Morales
In an interview with Sherdog, Nogueira said the team had expected
Prates to challenge Islam
Makhachev first.
“It came as a surprise to us because we thought we would fight
Makhachev first and then Morales,” Nogueira said. “We had already
been planning the training camp to face Islam on January 30, but no
problem. The important thing is that this fight will be for the
belt.”
Prates had begun preparing for Makhachev’s wrestling-heavy style,
but the change in opponent requires a different strategy. “The
Nightmare” is now working closely with boxing coach Arthur
Cesar, known as Ban Ban.
“The main change will be in movement,” Nogueira added. “We had been
doing a lot of work on defending takedowns and getting back to our
feet so we could hurt him immediately afterward. Against Morales,
the focus shifts more toward the footwork developed by Ban Ban, our
boxing coach.”
Nogueira, the head of Vale Top Team, said he has trained Prates
since he was 11 and remains his primary day-to-day coach. Prates
considers him a second father. Nogueira said it doesn’t bother him
that fans often associate Prates’ success with
Fighting Nerds rather than Vale Top Team.
“A real coach always wants what’s best for his athlete,” Nogueira
said. “Fighting Nerds is a great team, and I have great friends
there, like Flavio
Alvaro and Sucupira. Our work complements each other. When I
need to, I take my athletes to Sao Paulo, and they bring Fighting
Nerds athletes to Taubate, where Vale Top Team is based. I learn a
lot from them and we all share the same goal: to make Carlos the
first Brazilian champion at 170 pounds.”
Although Nogueira considers Morales “a different animal,” he
predicts Prates will finish the unbeaten Ecuadorian in the second
round.
“Morales tends to leave himself very exposed because he goes
all-in, and that works in Prates’ favor,” Nogueira continued. “We
have five rounds to work with, but I believe Carlos will finish him
somewhere between the middle and the end of the second round. The
most important thing is movement and not trying to finish the fight
with a single punch. Prates’ only UFC loss came when he tried to
finish the fight with one shot. But he has improved a lot in that
area.”
Nogueira also said Makhachev would be disappointed if he hoped to
gather more footage of Prates from the Morales fight.
“If the idea was to pull Islam out of this fight so Prates would
have to go five rounds and he could gather more footage to study
him, he’ll be disappointed, because this fight won’t make it to the
third round,” Nogueira said. “Our focus is now 100% on the interim
belt, but five or six months later, we want to fight Islam for the
undisputed title. There’s no doubt he is one of the greats in the
history of this sport.”