"He said I am scared to fight him", Prates responds to Morales calling him out

The welterweight division is currently one of, if not the best, divisions in the UFC. Last week Islam Makhachev defended his title against Ian Garry, and the obvious question is, who is next? The clear answer is Carlos Prates, but the third contender Michael Morales is trying his best to push his way into the title fight. 

Prates addressing claims that he is scared to fight Morales

On his X account Prates posted a video where he filmed a message to Morales directly. 

"If the guy has two arms and two legs like me, bro, I can fight him. That guy said, "I am scared to fight him?" Prates then pulled out his phone and started recording a video for Morales himself. 

"You say I am scared to fight you. I am not scared of a fight with you; I am the No. 1 contender, so I want to fight for the belt. The UFC never offered me a fight against you. If they offered me the fight, of course I would knock you out really fast, in the first round. So don't worry, you are going to fight and I am going to knock you out. But you will have to wait until I get my belt, and then we can fight."

After a while Morales replied to the message, which Prates shows in the video. The response was short: "Yeah, I am ready to fight; just let me know."

There isn't a big chance this fight will happen soon

As Prates himself claimed, he is a No. 1 contender, and he should fight for the belt. The factor that backs this up is the statement from the champion, Islam Makhachev, where he said he wants to fight before the end of the year again. But as he went to a decision against Garry, in a tiring five-round fight, it's unlikely that he will return before the late November or early December

As for Prates, his last bout was against Jack Della Maddalena on May second, where he won via TKO in the third round. So it's fair to say that he is very fresh right now. However, there are no easy fights for him, so the logical thing for him is to wait for Islam, as he will almost certainly be the next challenger.

On the other hand, Morales can only benefit from a fight with Carlos. As he is sitting in the third place, it's highly unlikely that he is next in line for the title.  The fights that would suit him the best, counting out the Prates bout, would be Della Maddalena or Ian Garry, as those matchups would push him even higher in case of a victory.

But Morales is considered by some fans an unproven fighter, since the only notable wins were two KOs against old Gilbert Burns and Sean Brady.  In case he wins any of the two fights mentioned, he would definitely be the next challenge for whoever is a champion in that moment.