{"id":38020,"date":"2026-04-26T00:40:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T00:40:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Michael-Morales-denies-report-of-being-sidelined-from-UFC-welterweight-title-picture-200961"},"modified":"2026-04-26T00:40:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T00:40:23","slug":"michael-morales-denies-report-of-being-sidelined-from-ufc-welterweight-title-picture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/michael-morales-denies-report-of-being-sidelined-from-ufc-welterweight-title-picture\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Morales denies report of being sidelined from UFC welterweight title picture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Michael
\nMorales<\/a> recently hinted that he is still in the race for the
\nnext welterweight title shot. <\/p>\n

Morales (19-0) and Ian Garry<\/a>
\n(17-1) are widely considered the most likely contenders for the
\nnext
\nUFC<\/a> welterweight title shot against Islam
\nMakhachev<\/a> (28-1). While both have been calling out Makhachev,
\nGarry has been more persistent lately. <\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Garry recently called out Makhachev, even accusing the champion of
\ninactivity. Makhachev responded by clearly expressing interest in
\nthe matchup for the first time. The Dagestani star said that he is
\nmerely waiting to sign the contract. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, MMA journalist Alvaro Colmenero recently reported that
\nnegotiations are underway for Garry to challenge Makhachev for the
\ntitle next. According to Colmenero, the booking is being targeted
\nfor UFC 330<\/a>
\nin August in Philadelphia. Colmenero further claimed that Morales
\nis already out of the race for the next title shot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said it a while back, but the fight that’s being negotiated is
\nIslam
\nMakhachev<\/a> vs. Ian Garry<\/a>,
\naccording to my sources. Morales is already out of this title shot.
\nPresumably it’ll be in August in Philadelphia, at UFC 330, though
\nIslam has already pointed toward the IFW in some message.\u201d

<\/p>\n
\n

Lo dije hace tiempo, pero la pelea que se
\nnegocia es la de Islam
\nMakhachev<\/a> contra Ian Garry<\/a>,
\nseg\u00fan mis fuentes.<\/p>\n

Morales ya est\u00e1 descartado de este title shot.<\/p>\n

Presumiblemente ser\u00e1 en agosto en Filadelfia, en UFC 330, aunque
\nIslam ya ha se\u00f1alado hacia la IFW en alg\u00fan mensaje. pic.twitter.com\/fmZleqj8Aw<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00c1lvaro Colmenero (@KOlmeneroMMA)
\nApril 25, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n

Still in Contention?<\/h2>\n

However, Morales refuted the reports, hinting that he is still in
\nthe picture. The undefeated Ecuadorian wrote on Instagram: \u201cI am
\nstill alive in this war.\u201d

<\/p>\n
<\/blockquote>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n

Morales also recently posted a photo with Hunter Campbell with the
\ncaption: \u201cPapers ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
<\/blockquote>\n

<\/center> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Morales recently hinted that he is still in the race for the next welterweight title shot.  Morales (19-0) and Ian Garry (17-1) are widely considered the most likely contenders for the next UFC welterweight title shot against Islam Makhachev (28-1). While both have been calling out Makhachev, Garry has been more persistent lately.  Advertisement […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38021,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}