"Resistance training for your lungs" - Fans react as UFC Louisville fighter celebrates receiving bonus with cigarette
UFC Louisville provided fans with some exciting knockout finishes after the previous event, UFC 302, saw no knockouts - a rarity for the promotion. One of the card's best finishes came during the during Charles Radtke vs. Carlos Prates, which took place on the preliminary card.
Near the end of Round 1, Radtke found himself with his back against the cage, with his opponent controlling the lead-hand battle from the southpaw stance. Prates landed a perfectly placed knee that smashed into his opponent's liver, and the fight was over.
It was his second consecutive stoppage victory in the octagon, having defeated Trevin Giles via TKO in his promotional debut.
But the exciting welterweight contender has caused some controversy amongst fans after footage emerged of him smoking a cigarette whilst celebrating his win with his team. The video was uploaded to X by MMA Junkie, which captured Prates being informed that he won a $50,000 performance bonus.
Watch the video of the UFC Louisville winner below:
Fans were stunned by the video, and took to X to share their collective surprise. @Siwwyboy wrote:
"It's resistance training for your lungs."
Another fan wrote:
"Well the path was set and written. Blow this guy's cardio out and beat him."
UFC Louisville main event winner disagrees with controversial stoppage
UFC Louisville was headlined by a middleweight clash between Jared Cannonier and Nassourdine Imavov.
Cannonier was up 2-1 after three rounds according to many who watched the fight, but during the fourth round, was caught with a sharp right-hand counter by Imavov. 'Tha Killa Gorilla' was wobbled by the strike, but remained on his feet.
As 'The Sniper' continued to unload punches onto his hurt opponent, the referee Jason Herzog intervened and called the fight off. But there were cries from fans and fellow fighters that Herzog had stopped the bout too soon.
However, the surging middleweight contender did not agree, as he appeared in front of the media after his victory and said this:
"Absolutely not [an early stoppage]. It's the job of the referee to decide if the fighter in able to keep going or not. He already took a lot of damage, he would have taken even more if the fight continued. So I think it was the right decision."
Watch the UFC Louisville main event winner discuss the stoppage below (1:20):