INTERIM GOLD: Prates vs Morales Booked for UFC 336
“You can't hold up divisions like this.”
Dana White books an interim welterweight title fight for Toronto after Islam Makhachev's January date falls away.
"Islam, on average, fights once a year," Dana White said Saturday. "He was slated for January and then said, 'I don't want to fight until after Ramadan.' You can't hold up divisions like this."
That is why UFC 336 has an interim welterweight title fight. Carlos Prates meets Michael Morales in Toronto on January 30, 2027, and the winner earns the right to face undisputed champion Islam Makhachev.
The announcement came during Saturday's UFC 333 broadcast in Abu Dhabi. It settles, for now, the question that has hung over the division since the Makhachev-Prates plan for Toronto fell apart.
White Draws the Line
White said Makhachev declined to fight within the January timeline. TSN reports White's account as a decline without a reason given, alongside his quoted Ramadan timeline.
Makhachev answered on X in his own words: "As soon as we find out who the real contender is, we'll be right back!!!"
The champion's record stands at 29-1, per TSN. With Ramadan beginning in February, TSN reports his return would be pushed to at least May.
That gap is the whole point of an interim belt. The division does not wait for May. It crowns a stand-in champion in January and lets that man chase the real one.
Two Finishers, No Escape
Prates is the No. 1-ranked welterweight. He is 24-7 overall and 7-1 in the UFC, and all seven of those UFC wins have come by knockout.
His recent run is the loudest in the division. He has knocked out former champions Jack Della Maddalena and Leon Edwards, and TSN counts him among the most dynamic finishers in the sport since his UFC debut in 2024.
Morales Has Never Lost
Morales is the No. 3-ranked welterweight, and he has never lost. He is 19-0 overall and 7-0 in the UFC, with five knockouts, four of them in the first round.
His last win was a first-round knockout of Sean Brady at UFC 322 last November, per theScore. That is the kind of finish that forces a division to pay attention.
UFC.com adds the twist that makes this fight personal. Prates had said he would fight Morales only after he beat the champion. Instead, they meet with the interim title on the line.
Toronto Gets Two Title Fights
The interim fight is the co-main event. The headliner is a flyweight title fight: champion Joshua Van defends against Manel Kape.
Van is 18-2 and Kape is 23-7, per TSN. Van is seeking a third defense of his belt, per MMA Junkie, after outworking former champion Alexandre Pantoja in their UFC 331 rematch in September.
Kape has won four straight by knockout, per MMA Junkie, beating Kyoji Horiguchi, Brandon Royval, Asu Almabayev and Bruno Silva to earn his first shot at UFC gold.
UFC 336 takes place at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. It is the promotion's first event in Toronto since January 2024, per theScore.
January was supposed to be Makhachev's date. Now it belongs to Prates and Morales, and to the man who beats the other one. The real contender, as Makhachev put it, gets decided in the cage.
