{"id":329880,"date":"2026-05-06T02:06:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T20:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=329880"},"modified":"2026-05-06T02:06:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T20:36:39","slug":"islam-makhachev-leans-towards-carlos-prates-title-shot-when-revealing-next-opponent-is-not-confirmed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/05\/06\/islam-makhachev-leans-towards-carlos-prates-title-shot-when-revealing-next-opponent-is-not-confirmed\/","title":{"rendered":"Islam Makhachev leans towards Carlos Prates title shot when revealing next opponent is not confirmed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"post-307618\">\n<div class=\"article-follow\">\n<div class=\"article-sharing google-follow\"> <a class=\"fw\" href=\"https:\/\/profile.google.com\/cp\/Cg0vZy8xMWs2azRtMzFf%20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">  <span>Follow us on Google Discover<\/span> <\/a> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>In accordance with Islam Makhachev, his next opponent continues to be yet to be made official.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Makhachev recently said that he\u2019s verbally agreed to his next fight and an opponent was verbally mentioned but there have been no agreements or contracts as of yet.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-grvmedia-grv-video GRVMultiVideo\"><\/figure>\n<p>Many have expected that Ian Machado Garry can be the primary man to challenge the brand new welterweight champion, with August seeking to be the targeted timeframe.<\/p>\n<p>While even Carlos Prates expects this to be Makhachev\u2019s next fight, his recent win in Perth could still change the promotion\u2019s plans based on the Russian titleholder.<\/p>\n<section class=\"grv-talking-point\" data-trigger=\"vue-sidebar\" data-story-id=\"0bbb4da7-bd53-426f-9e71-e4726e0b28ef\" data-story-name=\"UFC Perth\" data-comment-id=\"40b94217-8af4-4a8f-b9c5-1d4bd8defa04\" data-story-slug=\"ufc-perth\">\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__inner\">\n<header class=\"grv-talking-point__header\">  <\/header>\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__content\">\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__cta\">\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__title-wrap\">\n<h3 class=\"grv-talking-point__title\">Is Carlos Prates the largest threat to Islam Makhachev\u2019s welterweight title reign?<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__embed\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"819\" height=\"1024\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 991px) 100vw, 800px\" src=\"https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/05\/BE-KB-RECORD-1-819x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Carlos Prates poses on stage at the UFC Kansas City ceremonial weigh-ins\" class=\"wp-image-307132\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/05\/BE-KB-RECORD-1-819x1024.jpg 819w, https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/05\/BE-KB-RECORD-1-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/05\/BE-KB-RECORD-1-768x960.jpg 768w, https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/05\/BE-KB-RECORD-1-912x1140.jpg 912w, https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/05\/BE-KB-RECORD-1-600x750.jpg 600w, https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/05\/BE-KB-RECORD-1.jpg 1080w\"><\/div><figcaption title=\"Credit: Josh Hedges\/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images\">Credit: Josh Hedges\/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Islam Makhachev believes a fight with Carlos Prates can be \u2018essentially the most interesting\u2019 as he talks next opponent<\/h2>\n<p>This past weekend, Islam Makhachev was quick to praise Carlos Prates for the devastating performance he placed on to stop Jack Della Maddalena in Perth.<\/p>\n<p>The welterweight champion recently admitted that along with his next opponent not being official, there are still several options on the table for his first title defense.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe UFC haven\u2019t informed me about it yet but there\u2019s been plenty of rumors about me fighting Ian [Machado] Garry next yet I haven\u2019t talked with any [UFC] officials about this fight so I can\u2019t tell needless to say who&#8217;s the following contender,\u201d he told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DX9qUOPjHhn\/?img_index=1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Red Corner MMA<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve got 3-4 more possible matchups. Kamaru Usman can also be up there. Ian Garry, [Michael] Morales, Prates. 4 of them, plus Shavkat [Rakhmonov] is likely to be number five. They\u2019re all expecting a title shot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a follow-up query, Makhachev said that he believes a fight with Prates \u201ccan be essentially the most interesting\u201d on account of the response his recent win got from fans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, I feel Prates has got the hype now. He\u2019s talked about rather more now,\u201d the champion said.<\/p>\n<section class=\"grv-talking-point\" data-trigger=\"vue-sidebar\" data-story-id=\"ca1e5072-ad16-4dcb-bfca-85603036bf4b\" data-story-name=\"Welterweight\" data-comment-id=\"fa5fe01e-1197-4ce3-ad8c-085603fc5ff8\" data-story-slug=\"welterweight\">\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__inner\">\n<header class=\"grv-talking-point__header\">  <\/header>\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__content\">\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__cta\">\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__title-wrap\">\n<h3 class=\"grv-talking-point__title\">Does Ian Machado Garry have what it takes to beat Islam Makhachev? Explain your decision down below!<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__embed\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"819\" height=\"1024\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 991px) 100vw, 800px\" src=\"https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/02\/BE-UFC-WINS-819x1024.png\" alt=\"A split screen comparison between Islam Makhachev (top) and Ian Machado Garry (bottom)\" class=\"wp-image-293223\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/02\/BE-UFC-WINS-819x1024.png 819w, https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/02\/BE-UFC-WINS-240x300.png 240w, https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/02\/BE-UFC-WINS-768x960.png 768w, https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/02\/BE-UFC-WINS-912x1140.png 912w, https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/02\/BE-UFC-WINS-600x750.png 600w, https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/02\/BE-UFC-WINS.png 1080w\"><\/div><figcaption title=\"A split screen comparison between Islam Makhachev (top) and Ian Machado Garry (bottom). Credit: Ishika Samant\/Getty Images\/Noushad Thekkayil\/NurPhoto\">A split screen comparison between Islam Makhachev (top) and Ian Machado Garry (bottom). Credit: Ishika Samant\/Getty Images\/Noushad Thekkayil\/NurPhoto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p>Machado Garry has called Makhachev out for making him wait, following talk across the Russian having to get well from an injury.<\/p>\n<p>There is no such thing as a denying that Prates is within the conversation following back-to-back incredibly impressive wins over former champions.<\/p>\n<p>That being said, Machado Garry likely isn\u2019t going to take the news well if he misses out on a title shot to an opponent he beat over five rounds last 12 months.<\/p>\n<div class=\"see-more-wrapper lazy see-more-open see-more-blank extra-content\" data-src=\"https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/2026\/05\/05\/islam-makhachev-leans-towards-carlos-prates-title-shot-when-revealing-next-opponent-isnt-confirmed\/none\" data-type=\"subscribe\">\n<div class=\"see-more subscribe\">\n<figure class=\"newsletter\">\n<div><svg class=\"loading\" width=\"118\" height=\"36\" viewbox=\"0 0 118 36\"><use href=\"#dots-svg\"><\/use><\/svg><\/p>\n<div class=\"signup\"><span class=\"hf\">Join Our Newsletter<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Receive a digest of our greatest Bloody Elbow content each week direct to your mailbox<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Follow us on Google Discover In accordance with Islam Makhachev, his next opponent continues to be yet to be made official. Makhachev recently said that he\u2019s verbally agreed to his next fight and an opponent was verbally mentioned but there have been no agreements or contracts as of yet. Many have expected that Ian Machado [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":329881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21048],"tags":[3809,2813,1794,6299,12221,13132,8845,22394,3865,1733,1148],"class_list":["post-329880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mma","tag-carlos","tag-confirmed","tag-islam","tag-isnt","tag-leans","tag-makhachev","tag-opponent","tag-prates","tag-revealing","tag-shot","tag-title"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329880"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":329883,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329880\/revisions\/329883"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}