Islam Makhachev spoke about the reason why he does not fight Carlos Prates in January.
In the last few weeks, the MMA world has been flooded with rumors that Makhachev will defend his title against Prates at UFC 336 in January; But on Saturday, the UFC announced that those reports were false. Instead, Prates will take Michael Morales’ interim bantamweight title at UFC 336, with the winner joining Makhachev next year.
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UFC CEO Dana White said that, finally, Makhachev decided that he does not want to fight until after Ramadan, and on Sunday, speaking with libra4padel.ru, Makhachev spoke about what happened and why he does not fight Prates next.
“Praetes and Morales will fight, who is the real worthy fighter will fight and I will fight” [the winner]. They will be [fight] among themselves …
“They offered me a fight with Prate, who recently lost.” [Ian Machado Garry] whom I beat If I strike, Morales will already be next in line, who does not fight and waits [a title shot]. They’ll just fight and we’ll figure out who the real challenger is.
Ramadan on February 7 begins and ends on March 8, 2027, meaning we will likely see Makhachev until next summer.