Carlos Prates does not train like a monk, and he isn’t pretending to.
In a clip credited to @Ninadrama, Prates laid out his tobacco habit in numbers: 10 to 12 cigarettes on a normal day. MMA account Dovy (@DovySimuMMA) passed it along, and he wrote on X that Prates “smokes 2 packs when drinking, he says he also vapes when flying.” He closed the post with a laughing emoji.
A second clip landed a couple of hours later. It came from Instagram user 209arthur and was shared by both Dovy and Championship Rounds. It shows Prates vaping in the gym while Charles Oliveira works. Oliveira has his own date coming. He’s the No. 4 lightweight in the Knockout Daily rankings and faces Diego Lopes at UFC 335 on Dec. 12.
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None of this is a scandal. Smoking is legal, and nobody has suggested it breaks any rule. What makes it a story is the guy doing it. Prates is 24-7, sits at No. 5 at welterweight, and headlines UFC 336 against Michael Morales on Jan. 30, 2027. He fights out of Vale Top Team in Brazil, the same gym where he started Muay Thai as a teenager. He earned his UFC contract on Dana White’s Contender Series, then knocked out Trevin Giles in the second round of his debut on Feb. 10, 2024, which earned him Performance of the Night. His last fight was May 2, 2026.
He’s a five-round main eventer with a pack-a-day habit. Every cardio question about him starts here.
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The timing is funny, too. Prates and Morales had an intense faceoff for UFC 336. At that same appearance, Dana White said he’d celebrate a Prates win with a cigar, per Championship Rounds. “I’ll smoke a cigar with him,” White said. Prates had a counteroffer: “And whiskey also.”
He isn’t short on confidence either. “Don’t hide. After knocking Morales out, I’m gonna come back and retire Islam Makhachev from MMA,” Prates said. Morales has his own plans for that name. “I’m going to face Islam Makhachev. It’s coming back to Ecuador,” he said.
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Anyone eager to blame the cigarettes will be watching Prates’s gas tank in Round 4 on Jan. 30. If he wins anyway, White already owes him a cigar.
