Dana White has put the UFC’s surprise title booking squarely on Islam Makhachev. The UFC CEO said Makhachev was set to fight in January and then pulled himself off the schedule, which pushed the promotion to book an interim welterweight title fight between Carlos Prates and Michael Morales for UFC 336 in Toronto on Jan. 30. MMANews framed White’s comments as blaming Makhachev for the decision, and the quotes back that up.
“Islam fights like once a year. He was slated for January, and then said ‘I don’t want to fight until after Ramadan,’” White said, in remarks posted by Championship Rounds on X. “You can’t hold up divisions like this. You gotta keep moving.”
The whole thing moved fast. On Oct. 23, AgFight reported that Makhachev vs. Prates was off UFC 336, a fight that had been scheduled to headline the card. A day later Championship Rounds reported the interim booking, Prates vs. Morales, for the same Toronto event.
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Prates didn’t take it quietly. In an Instagram video, he called Makhachev a coward and mocked the idea that a man who doesn’t drink, smoke or party couldn’t get ready inside three months. “You told the UFC you wouldn’t be ready to fight three months from now,” Prates said. He then promised to knock out Morales on Jan. 30 and come back for Makhachev afterward.
Makhachev gave a different explanation, and it has nothing to do with the calendar. Speaking on Instagram (via pound4padel), he said the matchup itself didn’t make sense to him. Prates is coming off a loss to Ian Garry, a fighter Makhachev says he has already beaten, and Makhachev argued that even a win over Prates would leave Morales sitting there waiting as the next contender.
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“Just let them fight and we will figure out who’s the real challenger,” Makhachev said.
So there are now three accounts of why the main event fell apart. White says Makhachev cited Ramadan. Prates says Makhachev told the UFC he couldn’t be ready in three months. Makhachev says he wanted the two contenders to sort it out between themselves first. Those can all be true at once, but they make for very different headlines.
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Quick take
I’m with Makhachev on the matchmaking, and I’m with White on the outcome. Asking a champion to defend against a guy who just lost to someone the champion already beat is a tough sell. A Prates win over Makhachev wouldn’t clear up much, because Morales would still be standing in line. Letting Prates and Morales settle it gives Makhachev a challenger who earned the shot in his last fight, which is how this should work. But White’s real complaint is the “once a year” line, and that one stings because a title that sits idle stalls everyone behind it. An interim belt is the standard fix. Prates is the more dangerous striker on paper and Morales has been waiting on this exact opportunity, so whoever has his hand raised in Toronto on Jan. 30 gets Makhachev with zero arguments left about who the real challenger is.
