Carlos Prates is not fighting Islam Makhachev for the UFC welterweight title, news that caught all parties involved by surprise.
Instead of getting his shot at the undisputed belt, Prates battles Michael Morales for an interim title in the co-main event of UFC 336 on Jan. 30 in Toronto. Prates’ manager Lucas Lutkus told MMA Fighting that Prates was promised a shot at the 170-pound gold minutes after knocking out former champion Jack Della Maddalena in the main event of UFC Perth in May and three months
prior to Makhachev’s successful title defense against Ian Machado Garry.
Prates was offered the January date against Makhachev following UFC 330, and immediately agreed to it, a claim that was confirmed by UFC CEO Dana White.
“Islam said at the press conference that he wanted to fight before Ramadan,” Lutkus said, “And the UFC had already told us that the plan was to have this fight at the first numbered event in January. ‘Get ready for that date.’”
Makhachev previously stated he was determined to enter the cage one more time before Feb. 7, when Ramadan begins.
“Bro, we have to fight before Ramadan. 100 percent. January, end of the year, I have to fight,” Makhachev said on Aug. 16. “Because I’m not like 20-something, I’m 34 years old and I have to fight soon as possible because I’m not cutting much weight, I don’t have any big injuries, just have to maybe double check my nose, that’s it.”
The scenario changed on Oct. 20, when the UFC called Lutkus to inform them Makhachev said he would not be able to fight in January.
“The UFC called me last Tuesday and said, ‘Islam is out,’” Lutkus said. “I asked if it was an injury, and they said Islam hadn’t given them a reason. He had only said he wouldn’t be ready for January, and they weren’t going to break their promise that Carlos’ next fight would be for the title, so they would have Carlos fight Morales for the belt.”
“I don’t think even the UFC really knows what happened,” he continued, “because Islam comes out of the fight with Ian Garry, takes the microphone, and says, ‘I’m going to fight before Ramadan.’ His coaches say Prates is the most deserving contender, too. There was even a quick encounter backstage after the fight in Philadelphia, and everything was understood.
Makhachev said this past weekend that Prates and Morales should fight each other to determine “a true worthy contender.”
“This talk from Islam about there being so many contenders doesn’t hold up,” Lutkus said. “He might be saying that now, but he’s changing his tune from what he said right after the fight in Philadelphia. He always said Carlos deserved it and that Morales wasn’t fighting. Anyway, something made him change his mind. I’m not naive enough to think Islam Makhachev is afraid to fight Carlos Prates, but something made him change his mind. And as far as I know, he hasn’t explained it to the UFC. The UFC doesn’t know either, and that’s why they were a little upset with Islam. ‘He kept telling us he was going to do this the whole time, and now, with three months to go, he’s backing out of what we agreed on.’”
Morales replacing Makhachev doesn’t change the financials for the Brazilian, his manager said. Lutkus wouldn’t disclose the exact figures, but said Prates is getting paid the highest purse he’s ever negotiated with the UFC as an MMA manager.
“We’re very satisfied,” Lutkus said. “I don’t know what the other fighters are making, but based on what we’ve been able to find out, it’s entirely possible that Prates really is the second-highest-paid Brazilian fighter in the UFC, behind only ‘Poatan.’ I don’t know how much Charles [Oliveira] makes, but I imagine it’s something very similar. If Carlos isn’t the second-highest-paid, he’s third.
“But I think Carlos is making substantially more than guys like Diego Lopes and Jean [Silva], and so on. Even for fights that aren’t for the title, he has a guaranteed seven-figure purse.”
Could that financial incentive change Prates’ retirement plans? The 33-year-old has mentioned in the past there was a chance he wouldn’t fight past 35 or 36 given his extensive history in martial arts competition, including more than 100 muay Thai bouts, but Lutkus said that has changed significantly compared to when he started his UFC career, when he fought five times in a span of 14 months.
“At that time, Carlos was really in that mindset of, ‘I want to stop, I want to stop,’” Lutkus said. “Now, he fought Jack Della Maddalena in May and then had some time off knowing he would only fight Islam next year. Carlos has told me so many times, ‘I can’t take partying anymore. I’m spending more time at home now. I’m slowing down. I want to fight.’ I’m sure that once he understands he can be like Islam, fighting once a year, he’ll be perfectly happy fighting once a year. His body can’t handle five fights a year, but he won’t be doing that anymore. So I think he’ll gradually realize that it doesn’t have to be all or nothing, that there’s a middle ground, and that he doesn’t need to retire. He can fight once or twice a year, at a pace his body can handle.”
Prates’ first year in the UFC was a memorable one, earning MMA Fighting’s Rookie of the Year award after winning four straight with a 100 percent knockout rate against Neil Magny, Li Jingliang, Charles Radtke, and Trevin Giles. Prates won bonuses for every single one of those finishes, and came close to fighting a fifth time in 2024 by stepping in on short-notice, while injured, against Shavkat Rakhmonov.
“The only reason we didn’t [fight Rakhmonov] was that the UFC doctor prohibited it because Carlos had a broken foot,” Lutkus said. “There were two weeks left before the fight. Carlos was wearing a boot, and the doctor said, ‘You’ll only be able to take the boot off on Thursday of fight week.’ The team was willing to go ahead anyway.
“The UFC doctor said, ‘There’s no way we can clear a guy wearing a boot in the middle of fight week. That’s absurd.’ We sent the X-ray to Hunter [Campbell], and Hunter forwarded it to the UFC doctor. We had a call, and Hunter said exactly this: ‘You know we do everything we can to get a fighter to compete when we want him to fight. But you guys are crazy for wanting to fight with your foot in that condition.’”
Morales, an unbeaten 19-0 contender out of Ecuador, has stepped in against Prates. He is a perfect 7-0 under the UFC banner, capped off by a first-round knockout over Sean Brady, and Prates’ team likes the matchup as an alternative “if Islam needs more time before fighting Carlos.” Prates was taken down twice by Della Maddalena and Leon Edwards, but Morales is clearly geared more towards striking with five knockout wins since joining the UFC.
“It’s like putting someone in a fight with Justin Gaethje and saying, ‘Be careful, he’s an All-American wrestler.’ Justin Gaethje doesn’t use his wrestling. Morales is pretty much the same,” Lutkus said. “Morales has landed one takedown in the UFC so far, but I believe he’ll use his wrestling against Carlos. Jack Della Maddalena never wrestled, and he was forced to use it against Carlos. Leon Edwards is a striker and was forced to wrestle against Carlos. Once Carlos starts landing his punches, everyone becomes a wrestler. There’s no way around it, and I think Morales will become a wrestler too. But we’re not expecting anything remotely similar to the kind of pressure Islam would bring, for example.”
“Just because Jack Della Maddalena took Carlos down easily doesn’t mean Islam Makhachev would be able to take Carlos down easily,” he continued. “The mindset is different. Carlos doesn’t need to worry about going to the ground with Jack Della Maddalena. Especially in that first round, which Carlos won comfortably, with only 30 seconds left. He really didn’t even want to exert himself trying to defend that takedown because it wouldn’t have made any difference.
“We don’t want to end up on bottom against Morales. He’s a big, strong guy, but he’s not Islam, where if you end up on the bottom, the round is basically over. If Carlos ends up on the bottom against Morales, he has plenty of options to get back up, sweep — which he has already done in the UFC —, or even go for a submission. If Morales comes in looking to grapple with Carlos, Carlos will be very well prepared. But I think Morales will come in to trade and try to show that he has knockout power, and that’s where he’ll get himself into trouble. Carlos will show that there are levels.”
