Henry Cejudo backs welterweight champion Islam Makhachev's decision not to fight at UFC 336.
Dana White was agitated with Makhachev (29-1 MMA, 18-1 UFC) for not defending his title against Carlos Prates (24-7 MMA, 7-1 UFC) on Jan. 30 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto (Paramount+). As a result, Prates will face Michael Morales (19-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) for the interim belt in the co-main event.
Makhachev initially said he wanted to fight before Ramadan, which is expected to start on Feb. 7. However, he spoke out after the UFC 336 announcement by saying he'd rather see who truly is the worthy contender between Prates and Morales – and Cejudo agrees with him.
"Islam Makhachev is right on this one. I was thinking the same thing," Cejudo said on his "Pound 4
Pound" podcast with Kamaru Usman. "If I was Islam, I'd be like, 'How come these guys don't fight each other? Let me fight the best dude.' He said that before in the past in his press conferences. So, it was already premeditated with Islam since the beginning if you think about it.
"Because Dana White said there was no reason why, but I agree with Islam. As the champion, you want the No. 1 contenders to fight each other. I personally like this even better than either one of them fighting Islam because now we get a chance to see who is going to fight Islam Makhachev. Michael Morales and Carlos Prates, that's a main event on it's own. That's a pay-per-view main event."
It wasn't too long ago when Makhachev retained his title against Ian Machado Garry at UFC 330 in August. Prates went off on Makhachev for not fighting him and, in turn, Makhachev reminded him of when Machado Garry beat him in April 2025.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Why Islam Makhachev turning down UFC 336 makes perfect sense to one ex-champ
