Makhachev reportedly withdraws from Prates fight

The UFC welterweight title picture is left uncertain as speculation grows over an interim title fight.

Unfortunately, there’s also some pretty bad news for UFC fans today.

UFC welterweight champion Islam Makhachev has reportedly canceled his planned title defense against Carlos Prates in January. Although it wasn’t an official bout yet, it seemed like everything was pointing toward the fight actually taking place. It’s not yet known why Islam Makhachev reportedly had to cancel the fight, nor what’s next for him. It’s also a complicated situation for Carlos Prates, but some are already speculating that he might face the No. 3-ranked Michael Morales to compete for the interim title. At this point, however, that’s pure speculation. Dana White also declined to comment on the matter, describing the news as merely “interesting”, nothing more.

Islam Makhachev is fresh off a successful title defense against Ian Machado Garry at UFC 330 in August. It will be interesting to see when he returns and, above all, what the reason for his absence is. But as I said, very little is official at this point.

That's really too bad for him. I hope he really didn't hurt himself any worse or anything like that, otherwise, that would be really bad. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for him and hope it's nothing serious.