One kind of fighter scares me more than any other. It’s the guy who could be lounging on a yacht and is instead sitting in a sauna, cutting weight to get punched by a Brazilian with dynamite in both hands. Demetrious Johnson thinks Islam Makhachev is that guy, and he’s right.
Sportskeeda ran DJ’s take this week, and the line that stuck was blunt: “Islam can just retire.” Johnson’s read is that Makhachev has stacked enough money to walk away and enjoy his life, and he keeps signing fight contracts because he still wants to compete. I’d push it one step further. A champion who doesn’t need the check is the most dangerous person Carlos Prates could possibly be booked against.
Look at What He Keeps Choosing
When a guy is fighting for money, his matchmaking tells on him. He sits on the belt, waits for the softest ranked name, and hopes the promotion calls it a super fight. I can’t stand that type of champion, and Makhachev has been the opposite.
View post on X
He moved up to 170 and took the welterweight title with a dominant decision over Jack Della Maddalena. Then, for his first defense, he took Ian Machado Garry, a loud, confident contender who had been calling for big fights. Neither of those was a gimme.
He also has a life waiting for him outside the cage whenever he wants it. Valentina Shevchenko posted on X that Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov met with Makhachev. When heads of state want a sit-down with you, the post-fight career of handshakes, appearances and easy money is already lined up. He keeps passing on it.
Prates Is the Least Comfortable Fight Out There
If Makhachev wanted a cozy payday, Prates is the last name he’d circle. Prates told MMA Fighting he has an agreement with the UFC to challenge for the welterweight title next, with only a date and location left to sort out. He earned that spot the hard way, finishing two former champions in a row: Leon Edwards and then Della Maddalena, the same guy Makhachev beat for the belt.
View post on X
The timing is starting to take shape too. Championship Rounds posted on X that Makhachev vs. Prates is being discussed for UFC 336 on January 30 in Toronto, citing reporter KOlmeneroMMA. That’s discussion, not a signed bout agreement, so treat it as a strong rumor until the UFC puts a poster out.
Prates’ teammate Jean Silva, who’s 7-1 in the UFC and coming off a September finish of Jose Delgado, is already selling the upset. He told MMA Fighting that Makhachev was willing to trade with Garry only because Garry lacks Prates’ power. “He’s not going to stand and trade with Prates,” Silva said. “That’s a huge advantage for Carlos Prates, because he knows that the moment he lands his hand, the fight is over, It’s five rounds. I doubt he can go five rounds without taking a big shot from Prates.”
I love the confidence. Silva and Prates train together at Fighting Nerds in Sao Paulo, and that gym has earned the right to talk. But I’d flip his logic around. A champion protecting his bank account ducks the guy who just put two former champions to sleep. A champion who’s in it for the competition says yes and asks where to sign. Makhachev keeps doing the second thing, and that tells you a lot about how he’ll show up in that cage.
Why DJ’s Read Carries Weight
Johnson spends a lot of time thinking about what fighting costs over a career. Ariel Helwani posted a clip of DJ this week comparing a ban on oblique kicks to the NFL protecting quarterbacks. “It can ruin somebody’s career,” Johnson said, explaining that he skips heel hooks and oblique kicks because he has other ways to beat people.
View post on X
Not everybody bought it. Josh Barnett fired back on X, calling the comparison a false equivalency and pointing out that DJ’s longtime coach Matt Hume is a heel hook specialist, which is a pretty fun bit of gym-history trolling. You can side with Barnett on the rules debate and still see what the clip says about Johnson. He weighs damage against reward every time he talks about this sport. So when he looks at Makhachev and concludes the guy is still fighting for love of the game, it means more coming from DJ than it would from some random hype account.
My take is simple. Prates’ camp is building its case on the idea that Makhachev won’t want to stand in the pocket with real power. Maybe. But the man has nothing left to buy and nothing left to prove financially, and he keeps picking the hardest fight available anyway. If January 30 in Toronto holds, Prates gets a champion with zero reasons to be there except wanting to win, and those are the guys you bet on.
