On September 14th, FFC makes their Vegas debut with a very strong card, including Carlo Prater taking on defending Welterweight Champion Keith Wisniewski. This is one of the more anticipated matches due to the fact the belt used to be Carlo’s, until Keith beat him at FFC 13. Keith recently spoke about the fight, an update which is in the ADCC News archives. Now we hear from Carlo. KM: How do you feel about fighting Keith Wisniewski again for the title? CP: I don’t feel I fought to the best of my abilities in the last fight against Keith. He is a great fighter, a great opponent, and Vegas is a lot of responsibility. I’m taking it seriously and hope this time the results will be different.KM: What can you tell me about your first fight with him for the title? CP: I remember very little except what I have seen on the tape. I didn’t feel like I was getting taken down that much but now watching the tape I see I was getting taken down and taken down and taken down. I have changed my training where I don’t think that will be an issue anymore. I felt also I was a little apathetic, not aggressive in that fight. That is never good for a fighter because then he leaves the fight in the hands of his opponent or the judges. You will see me go out there either trying to win the fight or lose the fight but trying all the time to define the fight. I want to finish it. KM: According to him he was controlling the takedowns and you the standup. Can you tell us more about this striking background? CP: I’ve been doing a lot sparring and hope to get my standup going like it was in that third round. This time I’m not going to wait. As far as wrestling he really did dominate me and that opened my eyes up. I thought I had great wrestling takedowns and takedown defense. What I did is went to the Olympic Training Center and got with a friend of mine Mo Lawal, he won the Real Pro Wrestling at 193. He helped me out with a couple things like places where I can avoid those double underhooks. Keith was getting those double underhooks on me easier than I expected. I think I’m in better shape than I have been in the last couple of years. I’m a train-a-holic but I did it correctly this time. I’m coming off a win in Meca, feel confident, feel strong like I did for the first fight. I didn’t know how he fought in the first fight, I had never seen any tape on him so it surprised me a lot. Now I’m going in there with at least a picture of what he is going to be coming at me with. It is going to be a great fight. KM: All I know about that Meca fight against Claudionor Fontinelle is it was in July and you won by arm choke. I didn’t even find a time on the fight. CP: It was a pretty good fight. He fought pretty much everyone in Brazil. I already knew going in you either have to find his temple or chin and knock him out or tap him out because he is not easy to TKO. He is tough. I went in with the mindset I was going to feint and make him commit to something. Going to the ground was pretty much inevitable. Once it hit the ground I knew I’d smoke him because I saw a lot of his tapes and his hips are a little stiff, he doesn’t have the natural ground attacks. Sure enough he gave me his neck and that was all I needed. KM: You had one fight between your first with Keith and that Meca show, AFC 11 in February. That was a decision win over Mikey Gomez. What do you think of that fight now? CP: That was the most frustrating fight I’ve ever had in MMA. I haven’t seen the tape and I don’t want to, I just want to pretend like it never happened. I was real disappointed in my performance. He is a good fighter, came at it real hungry. I didn’t have the motivation for it. I should have gone out there and fought and not thought about anything else. I didn’t do that. KM: I thought you were still with Yves Edwards but I heard you just came back from training in Brazil. Where are you training now? CP: I train with Yves, I’m just trying to learn and get better. I don’t want to be under the tutelage of anyone, I just want to keep getting better. It may be a little ‘incorrect’ for me to do that but I’m looking at the long term. I want to acquire as many different mindsets and techniques as I can. I love Yves like a brother, I’ll always be there for him. I go to Brazil regularly twice a year. I’m actually from Brasilia, the capital. I go back there and get with my original trainers and we work on some things. I’m just trying to learn and keep an open mind. KM: Is there any angle to this Keith fight like he has ‘your’ belt? CP: No, not really. I would like to be considered a champion but he won it. I want this belt this time and I’m going to win. KM: Sponsors to thank? CP: My family, my dad, and all my trainers and training partners. I picked up two sponsors, txmma.com and No-Gi.
