{"id":41256,"date":"2026-10-26T08:23:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T08:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Islam-Makhachev-questions-Prates-Morales-UFC-title-shot-credentials-203345"},"modified":"2026-10-26T08:23:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T08:23:12","slug":"islam-makhachev-questions-prates-morales-ufc-title-shot-credentials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/islam-makhachev-questions-prates-morales-ufc-title-shot-credentials\/","title":{"rendered":"Islam Makhachev questions Prates & Morales’ UFC title shot credentials"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Islam
\nMakhachev<\/a> believes an interim title fight will clarify the next
\nchallenger for his welterweight championship.<\/p>\n

Makhachev had been expected to defend his
\nUltimate Fighting Championship<\/a> title against Carlos
\nPrates<\/a> at UFC
\n336<\/a> in January 2027. Instead, Prates will face Michael
\nMorales<\/a> for the interim belt. The reigning champion supports
\nhaving the two contenders meet before challenging him.<\/p>\n

\n

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

Islam Makhachev backs Carlos Prates vs. Michael Morales to
\ndetermine his next welterweight challenger<\/h2>\n

Makhachev (29-1) pointed to Prates\u2019 defeat against Ian Garry<\/a>,
\nwhom he beat in August.<\/p>\n

The Russian also questioned whether Morales (19-0), who has not
\ncompeted since November 2025, should receive a title shot without
\nanother fight. He believes a matchup between Morales and Prates
\n(24-7) will establish the next challenger.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrates and Morales will fight to determine who is a true worthy
\ncontender,\u201d Makhachev told Pound4Padel. \u201cAnd I will fight [the
\nwinner]. It\u2019s good; it makes it more interesting. They offered me a
\nfight against Prates, who recently lost to someone I beat. And if I
\nbeat him, Morales would already be next in line, who is not
\nfighting and waiting [for a title shot]. Just let them fight and we
\nwill figure out who is the real challenger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prates has finished all seven of his UFC victories, with his only
\npromotional defeat coming by unanimous decision against Garry last
\nyear. \u201cThe Nightmare\u201d has since stopped Geoff Neal<\/a>,
\nLeon
\nEdwards<\/a> and Jack
\nDella Maddalena<\/a>. Morales finished Sean Brady<\/a>
\nin his most recent appearance.<\/p>\n

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

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

Islam Makhachev believes an interim title fight will clarify the next challenger for his welterweight championship. Makhachev had been expected to defend his Ultimate Fighting Championship title against Carlos Prates at UFC 336 in January 2027. Instead, Prates will face Michael Morales for the interim belt. The reigning champion supports having the two contenders meet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41257,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41256","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\/41256","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=41256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}