Carlos Prates has his heart set on a title shot, but if he wins the welterweight belt he’s revealed he doesn’t plan on sticking around for long.

“I gonna win the belt and then I gonna challenge [Ian Garry] to do a rematch and then I gonna stop fight MMA… I don’t want to fight too much,” Prates said on The Ariel Helwani Show this week.

“I just want to get the belt and then of course make a rematch against Ian… [Then] just enjoy my life, barbecue, some beers… I plan to fight to 35 but if I become champ early, I gonna stop early.” 

Prates turned 32-years-old last month, and given that he only arrived in the UFC in 2024 it’s surprising that he’s already talking about his exit strategy.

That being said, it perhaps more sense when you consider that Prates already has a long history in combat sports, as not only is he 22-7 in MMA, but also fought extensively in muay thai and kickboxing bouts as well, racking up a 29-5 record there.

And now that Prates is in the UFC he appears to be trying to speed-run his way to the top as he’s already 5-1 in the Octagon, with all five of his victories coming via KO inside the first couple of rounds.

The decision loss to Garry last year back in April did hold back his progress up the rankings, but his stunning spinning elbow knockout finish against Geoff Neal a few weeks ago got him right back on track.

He’d probably have been wise to keep his retirement plans to himself though as Dana White is known to not be a fan of that kind of talk, and it may discourage them from fast-tracking him to title contention if they know he plans to pack up his bags and leave sooner rather than later.

However, Prates would be far from the first fighter who set a time limit on his career, only to then not go through with it when the time came, so it’s worth taking his comments with a pinch of salt for now.