Michael Morales Calls Out Islam Makhachev and the Division
Michael Morales has stopped waiting on a title shot and put the welterweight picture on notice. In a video posted to social media, the undefeated Ecuadorian told Islam Makhachev the excuses are finished, told Carlos Prates to fight him for the next shot, and named Shavkat Rakhmonov as his fight for 2027.
“Islam, since you came to my division and took the belt, I have been asking for the fight, you know who I am,” Morales said. “You said ‘Morales is way more dangerous.’ You also said I need one more fight.” He then turned to the bout Makhachev had suggested instead. “About Prates and me, you said ‘let them fight.’ Alright, I respect that. But after that, no more excuses.”
The message to Prates was a direct challenge, not a request for a ranking spot. “Prates, you said the UFC never offered you the fight with me,” Morales said. “You said you will knock me out in the first round, perfect bro, let’s do it. You and me, Deadpool versus Spider-Man. You want the belt, I want the belt. Let’s find out who’s next.”
Morales also left himself a second path if the champion and Prates go another way. “But if you guys have different plans, Islam, if you prefer Prates because you prefer an easy fighter, I have mine for 2027,” he said. “The final boss of this division. Shavkat Rakhmonov. You know where to find me.” The video closed on a name he has already traded words with. “Oh, I almost forgot about you. F*ck Ian Garry.”
The timing fits a week in which Morales already said a January return is agreed and that it will not be against Makhachev, Prates, or Garry. He has also said that January bout is the last step before he chases the belt around the middle of the year. The new video does not name the January opponent. It treats Shavkat as the 2027 fight and Prates as the man who should meet him if the title picture is still open.
Makhachev is the welterweight champion at 29-1. He moved up from lightweight, took the belt, and made his first defense against Garry in the main event of UFC 330 on August 15. That win pushed his UFC streak to 17. Earlier in the title chase he had described Morales as the more dangerous option and had also said Morales and Prates should fight, which is the comment Morales is now using against him.
Prates, nicknamed The Nightmare, is 24-7 and sits near the top of the division after a three-fight winning streak. Bloody Elbow reported that the promotion appears to be lining him up with Makhachev next. Morales is treating that possibility as the reason a contender fight has not been offered, and he is answering Prates’ claim that the UFC never put the matchup in front of him.
Shavkat is a different problem. He is 19-0, and his last fight was a win over Garry in December 2024. Inactivity cost him his place in the Combat Press welterweight rankings this month, with the site dropping him from No. 4 and moving everyone below him up one spot. Morales is still calling him the final boss of the division. That is Morales’ framing of a 2027 fight, not a booking the UFC has announced.
Garry is 17-2 and coming off the loss to Makhachev. In September he called for Morales on a proposed Saudi Arabia date of November 28, and Morales answered that he would fight whenever a contract was signed. The new video does not revisit that date. It ends the exchange with the censored line and moves on.
Morales is 19-0 and ranked No. 4 by Combat Press after Shavkat’s removal, with other lists still placing him inside the top five. None of the three fights he named in the video is official. January is the date he has already claimed. Prates is the fight he says should decide the next title shot. Shavkat is the one he says is waiting in 2027 if Makhachev chooses someone else.
