Many viewers of UFC 333 on Saturday were a bit confused when the promotion announced an interim welterweight title fight between Carlos Prates and Michael Morales. The fight, scheduled, for Jan. 30 in Toronto at UFC 336, will pit two young and hungry contenders against one another without the inclusion of full champion Islam Makhachev. 

According UFC president and CEO Dana White, the intent was for Makhachev to fight on that card. 

"Islam, on average, fights once a year," White said. "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. You gotta keep moving and this fight makes sense."

White said that Makhachev did not specify why he wanted to delay his comeback until after Ramadan, which begins in February and goes through the beginning of March.

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Makhachev defended the welterweight title in August against Ian Machado Garry. It is his lone appearance in the Octagon this year after taking two fights in 2025 against Renato Moicano in January to defend the lightweight title and Jack Della Maddalena in November to claim the welterweight crown.

Prates, meanwhile, has looked the part of a top contender with a 7-1 record in the UFC since his debut in 2024. His lone defeat came at the hands of Garry. Prates took to social media to express his frustrations with Makhachev.

"I've been working for my dream to be a champion at 17 years old, and now you postponed it. I'm number 11, I knocked out two former champions while Morales only beat Sean Brady," Prates wrote. "You told UFC you won't be ready to fight in three months. Bro, you don't drink, don't smoke, don't party and you can't prepare for a fight in three months?

"Let me show you how it's done. Jan. 30, I'll knockout Michael Morales, and then I'll come back to retire you."