{"id":39776,"date":"2026-08-07T04:20:32","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T04:20:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Islam-Makhachev-chooses-Carlos-Prates-over-Michael-Morales-as-next-title-challenger-202262"},"modified":"2026-08-07T04:20:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T04:20:32","slug":"islam-makhachev-chooses-carlos-prates-over-michael-morales-as-next-title-challenger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/islam-makhachev-chooses-carlos-prates-over-michael-morales-as-next-title-challenger\/","title":{"rendered":"Islam Makhachev chooses Carlos Prates over Michael Morales as next title challenger"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Islam
\nMakhachev<\/a> believes Michael
\nMorales<\/a> still has work ahead of him to earn a title shot.<\/p>\n

Makhachev (28-1) is scheduled to put his
\nUltimate Fighting Championship<\/a> welterweight title on the line
\nagainst Ian Garry<\/a>
\n(17-1) at UFC
\n330<\/a> on Aug. 15 at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia. While
\nGarry ultimately received the title shot, surging contender
\nCarlos
\nPrates<\/a> and the unbeaten Morales were also in the running.<\/p>\n

\n

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

Islam Makhachev slams Michael Morales\u2019 inactivity, eyes
\n\u2018exciting\u2019 Carlos Prates<\/h2>\n

Both Morales (19-0) and Prates (24-7) campaigned for title shots
\nbefore Garry got the call. Despite Morales being the official
\nbackup fighter for the UFC 330 main event, the reigning champion
\nbelieves Prates is ahead of the Ecuadorian in the welterweight
\npecking order.<\/p>\n

Morales hasn\u2019t fought since knocking out Sean Brady<\/a>
\nat
\nUFC 322<\/a> last November, on the same card that Makhachev won the
\ntitle against Jack
\nDella Maddalena<\/a> and Prates finished former champ Leon
\nEdwards<\/a>. Notably, Prates then finished Della Maddalena earlier
\nthis year, while Makhachev beat the Australian via decision.<\/p>\n

While he\u2019s focused on his upcoming title defense against Garry,
\nMakhachev is eyeing \u201cNutella cake,\u201d his moniker for Prates after he
\nsaw the Brazilian having a Nutella cake during the UFC 322 fight
\nweek, for his second title defense.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe [Morales] has to fight, bro,\u201d Makhachev told MMA Junkie. \u201cWhen
\nhe fight last time? He\u2019s waiting for the title fight or what? Too
\nmuch contenders. He has to fight against Prates or Shavkat\u2026 I don\u2019t
\nknow when [Shavkat] is coming back. Too much contenders\u2026 We have to
\nknow who is the No. 1 contender\u2026 Nutella cake is going to be good
\nopponent. Exciting fighter, it\u2019s going to be a good fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

Islam
\nMakhachev<\/a> says there’s “too much contenders” for Michael
\nMorales<\/a> to get a title shot after #UFC330<\/a>,
\nbut welcomes Carlos
\nPrates<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Nutella Cake is going to be good opponent. He’s exciting
\nfighter.”<\/p>\n

(via @MikeBohn<\/a>)
\npic.twitter.com\/dmExl7m6y3<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie)
\nAugust 6, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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

Islam Makhachev believes Michael Morales still has work ahead of him to earn a title shot. Makhachev (28-1) is scheduled to put his Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight title on the line against Ian Garry (17-1) at UFC 330 on Aug. 15 at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia. While Garry ultimately received the title shot, surging […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39777,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39776","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\/39776","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=39776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}