Shavkat Rakhmonov is hinting that his comeback fight is against a 19-0 opponent. Fans on r/MMA took about four seconds to decide that means Michael Morales.
Nothing is signed, and the UFC hasn’t announced anything. Still, the timing is hard to wave off. The tease surfaced online Tuesday, two days after Morales posted a video calling out half the welterweight division and saving Rakhmonov for the finish.
“The final boss of this division, Shavkat Rakhmonov. You know where to find me,” Morales said in the video, which he released Sunday.
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Rakhmonov hasn’t fought since December 2024. Injuries have kept him out for almost two years, and Yahoo Sports’ October pound-for-pound panel described him as “on the mend” while listing him as one of three serious threats to welterweight champion Islam Makhachev. He’s still undefeated, which counts for a lot in a division that keeps eating its own contenders.
Morales is the other unbeaten name in that trio. The 27-year-old Ecuadorian is 7-0 in the UFC and has finished his last three opponents in the first round: Sean Brady, Gilbert Burns and Neil Magny. That’s a brutal run. He also hasn’t fought in 2026. His closest brush with the cage this year came in August, when he made weight as the backup for Makhachev vs. Ian Machado Garry at UFC 330. Garry lost that one by unanimous decision.
The title line is crowded
Carlos Prates has probably jumped the queue. He knocked out former champ Jack Della Maddalena in May, and that win has him lined up as Makhachev’s next challenger. Morales went after both of them in his video. He reminded Makhachev that the champ once said Morales needed one more fight, then accused him of preferring Prates as “an easy fighter.” If that’s the plan, Morales said, “I have mine for 2027,” and then he named Rakhmonov.
Then there’s Garry, who Morales dismissed with a two-word profanity. Garry fired back Monday on Instagram, claiming he’d already agreed to a main event against Morales and that “The date is locked in.” He said the UFC sent the date, that he messaged Morales personally, and that he was getting a different message behind the scenes than the one Morales was posting publicly. He also took a jab at Morales’ inactivity. No date or event has been announced.
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So the board looks like this. Makhachev holds the belt, Prates appears to be next, and Garry says he has a deal that nobody else has confirmed. Morales says he wants Rakhmonov in 2027, and now Rakhmonov is dropping hints that line up with that.
My take: make it. Two undefeated welterweights, one coming off three straight first-round knockouts and the other trying to shake off two years of rust, with the winner holding the strongest claim to fight whoever comes out of Makhachev vs. Prates. Garry can keep posting screenshots. The UFC is booking 2027 cards right now, and this is the welterweight fight that should headline one of them.
