Carlos Prates Accuses Islam Makhachev of Ducking Him After January Fight Falls Through

Carlos Prates was supposed to challenge undisputed welterweight champion Islam Makhachev in January, but the champion's sudden withdrawal from the reported UFC 336 card forced the promotion to aggressively change its grand plans for Toronto.

The Brazilian knockout artist is far from happy after missing out on a golden opportunity to win undisputed gold and snap Makhachev's historic winning streak. The division's top-ranked star had already shared his frustration over the champion's timeline, and now he has gone off once again.

Carlos Prates Tells Islam Makhachev to Fight or Vacate

Prates accused Makhachev of ducking him, stating that the UFC was unhappy with the champion, and told him to hand over the belt if he did not want to compete. He also told Makhachev he should have used an injury excuse instead of leaving the date open.

"He chickened out… I'm going to come back and beat Makhachev twice as badly as I was going to before," Prates said. "If you don't want to fight, vacate your belt and that's it. It would honestly be less bad if you faked an injury and pretended you were hurt."

Prates’ frustration is justified. After defending his welterweight title against Ian Garry at UFC 330, he initially insisted that he wanted to return inside the octagon before Ramadan 2027. He also labeled Prates as a deserving opponent for a title shot. But when the UFC pushed to book the matchup for January, he changed his decision and told Dana White he could not return until after the holy month.

While sharing Islam's new decision during the UFC 333 post-fight press conference, White made the promotion's position clear as the interim fight was announced, saying, "You can't hold up divisions."

Prates is currently in Thailand, training at Phuket Fight Club. In a recent video shared on Instagram, he could be seen honing his Muay Thai skills with three months left until the interim title fight against Michael Morales.

The Brazilian is coming off three consecutive spectacular victories following his unanimous decision loss to Garry back in April 2025. First, he defeated Geoff Neal with a vicious spinning elbow knockout that earned him Performance of the Night. 

Then he defeated former champions Leon Edwards and Jack Della Maddalena in similar fashion to cement his status as the division's most dangerous finisher right now. The most shocking part of that run? Edwards had never suffered a knockout loss in his entire professional career before running into Prates.

Meanwhile, Morales is the No. 3 contender in the division. He brings a perfect 19-0 record with 14 knockouts into the co-main event at Scotiabank Arena. Whoever wins between them will take the interim title and get a guaranteed title shot against Makhachev.