{"id":947623,"date":"2026-10-31T13:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T13:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/947623\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T13:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T13:26:11","slug":"ufc-champion-islam-makhachev-says-his-next-fight-will-be-one-of-last-mixed-martial-arts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/947623\/","title":{"rendered":"UFC champion Islam Makhachev says his next fight will be \u2018one of last\u2019 | Mixed Martial Arts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Makhachev, one of the best fighters in UFC history, wants to face the winner of next year\u2019s Prates vs Morales fight.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Published On 31 Oct 202631 Oct 2026<\/p>\n

Reigning UFC welterweight champion Islam Makhachev has hinted at an imminent retirement, saying his next fight will be \u201cone of the last\u201d of his mixed martial arts career.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy next fight is one of the last in my career,\u201d the Russian MMA fighter said on X on Friday night.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

The Russian-born Dagestani fighter has expressed a desire to face the winner of the upcoming bout between Carlos Prates and Michael Morales in a bid to prove to the world \u201cwho is the best\u201d.<\/p>\n

Makhachev (29 wins, one loss) successfully defended his UFC welterweight championship belt in August, defeating \u200c\u200cIreland\u2019s Ian Machado Garry<\/a> via unanimous decision in the main event of UFC 330 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

With that, Makhachev etched his \u2060\u2060name in the UFC record books, extending his winning streak to 17 consecutive fights and surpassing UFC Hall of Famer Anderson Silva\u2019s historic 16-fight mark set from 2006 to 2013.<\/p>\n

Makhachev, the UFC\u2019s pound-for-pound top-ranked fighter, now wants to test himself against the winner of the UFC fight between Prates and Morales, the interim welterweight title fight scheduled for January 30, 2027, the co-main event of UFC 336 in Toronto, Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey say Prates is too dangerous for me and Morales is too good for me. So I want to face the best of them and prove to the world once again who is the best in the world,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\"IslamIslam Makhachev celebrates after defeating Ian Machado Garry in a welterweight title bout during UFC 330 at Xfinity Mobile Arena on August 15, 2026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania [Sarah Stier\/Getty Images\/AFP]<\/p>\n

UFC CEO Dana White said earlier this month that Makhachev was originally slated to defend his welterweight title against Prates in January, but the 35-year-old instead opted to wait for the winner of an interim title bout between Prates and Morales.<\/p>\n

Makhachev, widely regarded as one of the best fighters in UFC history, will observe the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in February and early March in 2027 before returning in the second quarter of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn average, Islam fights like once a year,\u201d White said at a media conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was slated for January, and then said, \u2018I don\u2019t want to fight until after Ramadan.\u2019 You can\u2019t hold up divisions like this. You gotta keep moving.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis fight [between Prates and Morales] makes sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking to Russian outlet pound4padel, former lightweight champion Makhachev said the Prates-Morales fight will decide \u201cthe true, worthy contender\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Makhachev, one of the best fighters in UFC history, wants to face the winner of next year\u2019s Prates…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":947624,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,2057,786,10280,785,2016,588,85],"class_list":["post-947623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-europe","tag-fighting","tag-mixed-martial-arts","tag-mma","tag-russia","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=947623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/947624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=947623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=947623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=947623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}