Islam Makhachev: 'Real Reason' He Refused to Fight at UFC 336 Revealed

Nasir is a sports journalist and has previously worked for SPORTbible from 2016 to 2026.

He helped grow, develop and expand SPORTbible's coverage of combat sports and worked closely with the UFC, the PFL and Matchroom Boxing.

He has also contributed to AddictedMMA and CagePotato.

Nasir specialises in combat sports and has interviewed some of the biggest names in the fight game, including Conor McGregor, Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Tom Aspinall, while covering events in Las Vegas, New York, Dubai and Saudi Arabia, to name but a few.

He has also covered a wide range of other sports during his time as a journalist, including football and cricket.

Nasir graduated from Bath Spa University with a degree in Media Communications.

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Dana White has explained his thinking behind creating an interim UFC welterweight title and shared his thoughts on Islam Makhachev not defending his belt at UFC 336.

Makhachev was seemingly set to defend his UFC welterweight title against Carlos Prates at UFC 336 on January 30 in Canada.

Prates emerged as the next challenger after his impressive three-fight winning streak, which includes stoppage victories over Geoff Neal, Leon Edwards and Jack Della Maddalena.

But Makhachev vs Prates collapsed as the promotion created an interim UFC welterweight title.

During the UFC 333 broadcast, it was announced that the Brazilian knockout artist would face Michael Morales for the interim UFC welterweight title.

Makhachev and Prates exchanged messages on social media in an ugly spat in the wake of the UFC 336 announcement.

Naturally, Makhachev not fighting at UFC 336 was brought up in White's UFC 333 post-fight press conference.

Pressed on the issues preventing the 34-year-old UFC champion from defending his title at UFC 336, White began by lamenting the Dagestan star's inactivity before revealing whether he had been given a reason for his UFC 336 snub.

"On average, Islam fights like once a year," said the UFC boss. "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. This fight makes sense."

Asked if Makhachev had given a reason for not fighting at UFC 336, White replied: "No reason."

Makhachev hasn't fought since his successful UFC welterweight title defence over Ian Garry in August. He outpointed the Irishman in the main-event of UFC 330 in Philadelphia.

A January return was mooted until he decided to sit out UFC 336 and with the devout Muslim set to observe Ramadan in February, it appears he won't be back in action until spring/summer of 2027.

Replying to an X account asking him when he would be back, Makhachev replied: "As soon as we find out who the real contender is, we’ll be right back!!!"

So, Makhachev will return to the UFC against the winner of the UFC 336 co-feature between Prates and Morales in what is shaping up to be a huge unification showdown.