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Carlo Prater has fought all over the world for over a decade, leaving no stone unturned.

Now, after splitting two fights following his release from the UFC, Prater sees his next fight as another chance to move one step closer to the Octagon.

Prater (31-13-1) will face Carlos Diego Ferreira (6-1) at Legacy FC 20 on May 31 in the main event.

“I know how good I am and (I) just need to focus in on each moment and every battle and give my all to each thought and action when I’m in there,” Prater said, during a recent interview with FightLine.com. “The rest will just work its self out. I try to dwell on that nowadays.”

Prater, who holds wins over such notable fighters as Carlos Condit, Pat Healy and Melvin Guillard, says it is “UFC or bust” as far as his career goes.

“I KNOW I can fight and win and contend in there,” he added. “I just need to get back there. That is a fight by fight, training session by training session, day by day process.”

Carlo Prater, who defeated Erick Silva via disqualification in his UFC debut, has been released by the promotion.

MMA Opinion first reported the release of Prater, who went 1-2 in his UFC career.

Prater (30-12-1) was being pounded on by Silva when the referee stepped in and saved the fighter from any further damage. However, it was announced that Silva had been disqualified for illegal strikes to the back of the head, giving Prater the win.

After that, Prater was defeated by TJ Grant and Marcus LeVesseur.

UFC on FUEL TV 3 takes place later tonight at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia. The event airs live on FUEL TV and Rogers Sportsnet at 8pm ET/7pm CT. The prelims will precede the main card broadcast at 5:30pm ET on the UFC’s Facebook page.

In the main event, Dustin Poirier takes on “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung in a featherweight bout that could determine an upcoming title challenger.

‘Ultimate Fighter’ winner Amir Sadollah takes on Wanderlei Silva protege Jorge Lopez.

Lightweight scrappers Donald Cerrone and Jeremy Stephens go toe to toe.

Yves Jabouin and Jeff Hougland look to make a splash in the crowded 135 pound division.

Fabio Maldonado and Igor Pokrajac battle in an intriguing bout.

And lastly, “Filthy” Tom Lawlor takes on Jason “The Athlete” MacDonald.

Results and recap after the jump.

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Normally, I have very little to do on a Tuesday. It wasn’t even until last week that I realized this event was on a Tuesday. I’m pretty happy about having something to fill the void until Workaholics returns. Tomorrow’s UFC on FUEL 3 promises to be an action packed night of fights, and a great dessert, as the preliminary card kicks off just after dinner time, at 5:30pm ET on the UFC’s Facebook page. Here’s what’s going to happen.

-Francisco Rivera vs. Alex Soto

Back from Tachi Palace Fights, Francisco Rivera returns to the UFC, and hopes to get on the winning track. A violently powerful dude, Rivera has finished five opponents within the first five minutes with his fists. Alex Soto was on a roll until he fell into the bear trap that is Michael McDonald. Soto is a solid prospect, but he’s suffering some hard luck, as Rivera will finish him in the same way he has finished many.

-Jeff Curran vs. Johnny Eduardo

Jeff Curran is a fantastic fighter, but hell, he can’t catch a break under the ZUFFA banner. The grappling wizard needs to get on track and score a big win here. Johnny Eduardo is a veteran fighter, and despite not being well-known, he has been around the block and back in the combat sports world. Eduardo’s bane, if any, if the submission game. I think “Big Frog” takes Eduardo to the mat, and chokes him out cold.

-Rafael dos Anjos vs. Kamal Shalorus

Masterful submission artist Rafael dos Anjos is back inside the octagon. While he proved how well he could strike as well, he stills lacks the wrestling skills necessary to compete with the elite in the division. His opponent, Shalorus, is a powerful striker with fairly good wrestling skills. Shalorus, however, is aging, and not advancing, seemingly at all. I picked Nurmagomedov to beat Shalorus, and I’m picking dos Anjos to do so as well.

-T.J. Grant vs. Carlo Prater

T.J. Grant was a hell of an undersized welterweight, but as a 155 pound fighter, he has done well for himself. After dodging a bullet named Jacob Volkmann, due to injuries, Grant gets to test himself against Carlo Prater. Prater stole a win from Erick Silva in his most recent appearance, and based on his performance in the lightning quick bout, he wouldn’t have had much to offer Silva anyway. Back at 155, he looks to get his second UFC win, and hopefully under better circumstances this time. He won’t though. Prater is good, but Grant is considerably better, and will run through Prater with 15 minutes of dominance.

-Cody McKenzie vs. Marcus LeVesseur

People have learned not to buy into the Cody McKenzie hype. While many refer to him as a one-trick pony, he’s really good at that one trick, and he is getting better in the gym. Marcus LeVesseur is a hell of a wrestler, and with his ever-improving striking, he is a dangerous dude. I like Cody, but he’s just overmatched in this bout. The lesser known LeVesseur will pick him apart using his striking, and have no issue taking him down. I might be a crazy person though, I’m still picking Cody to pull it off.

-Dongi Yang vs. Brad Tavares

Back from a nearly year-long layoff, Brad Tavares enters the octagon, and gets immediately thrown to the wolves. Never one to shy away from a challenge, the always tenacious TUF finalist needs a win to cement his position in the middleweight division. He takes on “The Ox”, who, despite having a 1-2 record in the promotion, brings a wealth of dangerous abilities into the cage. One of the most heavy handed strikers in the division, Yang will look to make short work of Tavares, and frankly, I don’t see him having much trouble. Whether it be ring rust, Yang’s solid skills, and ridiculous power, or just a bad style match up, I see Yang lighting up Tavares en route to a quick stoppage.

Feel free to talk about who you think wins tomorrow in the comment section, and check back after breakfast tomorrow for my main card preview.

Despite Dana White’s insistence that Erick Silva got screwed when referee Mario Yamasaki disqualified him for illegally striking Carlo Prater on the back of the head at UFC 142, the UFC, who served as the regulatory body at the Brazil event, will not overturn the outcome of the fight.

UFC executive vice president of regulatory affairs Marc Ratner issued a statement on UFC.com explaining that it wasn’t the type of decision that could be reviewed. Ratner also announced that the UFC will begin to use instant replay at all international events regulated by the UFC.

“Based on the referee’s verbal warnings and his determination that the blows were intentional and a disqualifying foul, this is not the type of decision that can be reviewed. Therefore, the decision stands. Recently, Zuffa has decided to implement the use of instant replay at all international events that are self-regulated, and to encourage all regulators to consider the feasibility and effectiveness of instant replay in the sport of MMA. While instant replay would not have reversed the call in the Silva-Prater bout, we believe that it could be valuable to referees and the sport in the future.”

While I don’t necessarily agree that Silva deserved to be disqualified, it’s the good to see the UFC going by the book and not overturning the result just because Dana White thought it should be. Conflicts of interest could easily arise with self-regulation, but as long as the UFC plays it straight there shouldn’t be any problems while they work towards their goal of establishing an international federation of mixed martial arts to regulate events across the globe.

Image via Sherdog

Rundown of UFC 142 post-fight news and notes…

— Edson Barboza exited the HSBC Arena last night with a six-figure payday in hand for his amazing spinning heel kick KO of Terry Etim. The UFC awarded him both the Knockout of the Night and Fight of the Night bonuses, each worth $65,000, for a total of $130,000 in bonus money. Meanwhile, Rousimar Palhares earned the Submission of the Night bonus for heel hooking Mike Massenzio.

— Gray Maynard was right. Chad Mendes couldn’t take Jose Aldo down and the moment that came apparent was the moment Aldo had the fight in the bag. Moving forward, Aldo finds himself at a fork in the road. He can either stay at featherweight and continue dominating the division or he can move up to lightweight and make a run at Frankie Edgar’s title. Dana White says he’s fine with whatever Aldo decides.

“People have been asking me about Jose Aldo moving up to 155 pounds to take on Frankie Edgar or some of the top guys there,” White said at Saturday night’s post-UFC 142 press conference at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro. “That’s up to him. He’s going to have to make that decision whether he wants to make that move or not. I would have no problem with him staying at his weight now and defending his title there or moving to 155 pounds – whatever he feels like he wants to do.”

“Aldo looked fantastic tonight,” White said. “He was in tremendous shape. He came in, and you could tell his head was in this fight, and he came out performed against a real guy who was undefeated and came to take that belt away. I hate this pound-for-pound [expletive] now. You’ve still got to look at the year ‘Bones’ had. Anderson’s run is tough to beat. But it does make it interesting for Frankie Edgar. It’s crazy.”

While I’d love to see Aldo move up and challenge Edgar since there really aren’t any obvious contenders at featherweight, it’s still a difficult decision for him. He would be risking a lot by abandoning his title to chase another. That said, there would be obvious benefits to winning a title in a more established weight class. There’s no doubt he has the talent to do it.

— We’ve already covered Anthony Johnson’s release from the UFC due to his weight issues, but here’s Johnson commenting on his actual performance in the fight.

“A loss is a loss. My legs just got really tired. I didn’t get beat up in there and he really didn’t hurt me with what he hit me with. I just got tired. I’ve got to figure this thing out.”

The answer seems pretty obvious. Move to light heavyweight or figure out how to cut weight the right way.

— Erick Silva vs. Carlo Prater ended in controversial fashion last night. Silva knocked Prater down and proceeded to pound him with hammerfists. Problem was Prater’s head was down and many of the strikes appeared to hit the back his head. We’ve seen it a million times before but this time referee Mario Yamazaki decided to DQ Silva instead of awarding him the victory. It’s difficult to tell from the replay how many of the strikes were actually illegal due to the camera angles, but Dana White saw enough to believe Silva should have been the victor and planned to pay him like he was.

“We’re going to pay him like he won the fight,” White told MMAjunkie.com.

“I would appeal it if I was him,” White said. “The thing is that when you do it, Ratner is the guy to talk to about this. We try to run things the way that they’re supposed to be run, like the athletic commission would.”

Dana didn’t blast Yamasaki like he probably would have if it was Steve Mazzagatti, but he thinks instant replay should have been in place to overturn the call.

“It drives me crazy,” White said. “It drives me [expletive] crazy. Every other sport has instant replay. Listen, there are refs out there like Steve Mazzagatti that are just plain bad. He’s a bad ref. He’s got no business in the ring. But you’ve got guys like Mario Yamasaki and some of the other guys that are going to make mistakes. There’s nothing wrong with making mistakes. There’s nothing wrong. We’re [expletive] human. We’re going to do it. But you have to be able to go back and say, ‘We made a mistake. Here’s the proof. Let’s overturn it.’”

What’s puzzling about this is the NSAC does have an instant replay policy in place and the UFC follows NSAC guidelines for regulating events when they visit foreign countries, so the means to review it should have been in place. I believe the referee has to make the call to review it though, so maybe that’s why nothing was done to ensure it was the right decision.

— North American broadcast plans are still coming together for TUF Brazil, however Dana White says the show will most likely air on FUEL TV the same day it airs in Brazil.

“It’s not done, but I’m very confident it will be on FUEL TV, and it will run real time,” he said. “When it airs here (in Brazil on Globo), [FUEL TV] will air its equivalent in the U.S. at the same time. It will air the same night, almost at the same time.”

Instead of having a separate “TUF Finale” card like they’ve had with all previous seasons of TUF, the finals and the coaches fight between Vitor Belfort and Wanderlei Silva will actually take place on the big San Paulo, Brazil pay-per-view card they’re planning for June.

Photo credit: Felipe Dana/AP Photo

UFC 142 takes place later tonight at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The event airs live on pay-per-view at 10pm ET/7pm PT. The pay-per-view broadcast will be preceded by a prelim special on FX at 8pm ET/5pm PT.

In the main event, Jose Aldo puts his featherweight title on the line against Chad Mendes.

Anthony Johnson meets Vitor Belfort in the co-main event.

Rousimar Palhares takes on Mike Massenzio in a middleweight bout.

Carlo Prater takes on Erick Silva in a welterweight match-up.

Edson Barboza meets Terry Etim in a lightweight bout.

Results, recap and bonuses after the jump.

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The last time a visiting team took to the court in Brazil against that nation’s home team, the visitors got their asses handed to them. At UFC 134 in August, before a Rio de Janeiro venue packed with about 14,000 screaming Brazilian fans, Rousimar Palhares went nuts on Dan Miller, Edson Barboza cruised past Ross Pearson, “Big Nog” crushed Brendan Schaub, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua chewed up and spit out Forrest Griffin, and Anderson Silva made Yushin Okami look like a rank amateur. The only hometown player to fall was Luiz Cane, and heck, you can blame that one on it just being Luiz Cane. This Saturday night, the UFC returns to Rio with another installment of “Shooting Fish in a Barrel: Brazilian Edition” (also known as UFC 142), and you can pretty much bet on the fact that most – if not all – of the local boys are walking away with wins. Featherweight champ Jose Aldo will be defending his belt against someone very much not worthy, Vitor Belfort will be taking on the morbidly obese Anthony Johnson, and Palhares returns for what’s sure to be another showcase of psychosis. So… preview time!

-Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes – Undefeated snuggle-master Mendes earned his shot at Aldo’s belt after decisioning Rani Yahya, which, in the rational minds of anyone with even a passing knowledge of the sport and its players, should evoke thoughts of “Huh?” and “WTF?” The sad truth is that Aldo has beaten everyone worthy, so now he gets to beat on the unworthy. And though the American is a Team Alpha Male product, broseph to Urijah Faber and relentless wrestler, Mendes has nothing for Aldo that the Brazilian hasn’t already seen – and dismantled – before. Expect this one to end suddenly and violently, like a barbecue in the favelas when the acai-flavored beer runs out.

-Vitor Belfort vs. Anthony Johnson – In Johnson’s much-ballyhooed venture up to middleweight territory, the dude failed to make the 185-pound cutoff by twelve whole pounds (!). Consequently, the veteran Belfort only agreed to the bout if “Rumble” stayed within the 205-pound light-heavyweight limit at fight time. Unless Johnson is pregnant, that uncontrollable weight is inexcusable. Weight divisions aren’t mere suggestions under the Unified Rules you know, and a dozen pounds could mean the most unfair of advantages for the offending bucket of chub. But fear not for the scales of justice here, because that excessive poundage is indicative of either a fighter out of shape or ill – which means the lightning-quick Brazilian is going to light Johnson up like a Marine in Fallujah with a Squad Automatic Weapon and an itchy trigger finger.

-Rousimar Palhares vs. Mike Massenzio – If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve probably noticed Palhares slowly coming unraveled in the cage. Sure, he’s been racking up wins, but invariably, all of his bouts are tainted with some odd as hell behavior (like his premature victory celebration in the Miller fight, or his inexplicable pause in the Nate Marquardt bout). Someday the referee is going to say “go” and the Brazilian is going to climb atop the cage and start rolling flaming barrels down at everyone. What does that mean for Massenzio, a wrestler with ever-improving boxing? I’m not sure. Massenzio could outpoint him on the feet while avoiding going to the ground (where he’d surely fall prey to a leglock), or Palhares could be winning and just mentally snap. If that happens, it’s on like Donkey Kong.

-Carlo Prater vs. Erick Silva – Silva was a Jungle Fight champ when he made his Octagon debut at UFC 134, and his 40-second KO victory endeared him to viewers everywhere (after all, a quick knockout means a run to the refrigerator for a refill on Mr. Pib). Prater, on the other hand, is making his UFC debut after a long career fighting in everything from that Shine tournament to the WEC to Strikeforce. While this bout pits two jiu-jijtsu black belts against each other, and Silva is clearly a capable face-puncher and Prater is a submissions guy, the funny thing about this pairing is that both men are Brazilians (although Prater does live in the US). Therefore, I’m going to go out on a limb and say the Brazilian will win.

-Edson Barboza vs. Terry Etim – Despite a quick 17-second win via guillotine in his last UFC outing, I’m still not sold on the feisty Brit Etim. His wins are mostly against scrubs, and when he’s faced top-level competition, he’s crapped the bed. Well guess what, Barboza is a top-level talent, and the Brazilian sports the kind of jiu-jitsu and Muay Thai that can send Etim back to Liverpool in a full-body cast. The best case scenario for Etim in this one is if he loses a punishing decision; worst case, Etim is beaten so bad that he never leaves the UK again. I’m going to go with the latter.

UFC 142 “Aldo vs. Mendes” takes place on Saturday, January 14, at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and will air live on pay-per-view at 10pm ET/7pm PT. The official UFC 142 fight card can be found in our fight cards section.