Carlos Prates doesn’t think Islam Makhachev is scared of him.. but he does think he might be too lazy to fight him right now.
Prates and Makhachev were all but set to cross paths in January for Makhachev’s UFC welterweight title, with UFC president Dana White going as far as to label the contest verbally agreed.
That all changed last week when suddenly Prates was announced as facing Michael Morales for the interim title, and Makhachev went public with his desire to meet the “rightful contender” out of the two.
According to Prates, that might just be from a desire to enjoy the rest of the year out of camp.
“Maybe he’s lazy? Maybe he doesn’t want to do a fight camp right now. He wants more time,” Prates said, speaking with Squawka. “Maybe he’s rich as fuck, so he doesn’t like to make money. Maybe he’s gonna wait a little bit more, let them fight, and after that he can do his fight camp and diet.
“He didn’t say why. He just said Carlos needs to fight Morales to see who’s number one contender. But if you see the rankings, I’m the number one contender.”
Despite fan disappointment there won’t be a unified title fight to kick off the new year, Prates vs. Morales does have all the ingredients of a barn burner.
