Dana White won't rule out Rakhmonov vs. Morales, says big announcements are coming

UFC CEO Dana White says a fight between unbeaten welterweights Shavkat Rakhmonov and Michael Morales "could be" next, but it isn't done. He was asked about it in a Paramount+ interview recapping Tuesday's Contender Series finale at the Meta Apex, first reported on Wednesday by MMA Sucka.

"Could be, could be… If it was done, we would announce it," he said, according to Sherdog. He added that the UFC has "a lot of good announcements coming up."

Speaking to reporter Shakiel Mahjouri, he said those would come "at the end of this year." He also said "we're going to have a good January…February too," EssentiallySports reported. The UFC has not announced the fight, and neither man has a bout scheduled.

How it got here

Morales called Rakhmonov "the final boss of this division" in a social post in early October, LowKick reported. On October 7, Sherdog reported that Rakhmonov had posted "19-0 vs 19-0" on TikTok. Sherdog read it as a nod to Morales, the only other unbeaten 19-0 welterweight in the UFC.

Morales has also said he will fight in January. In a Spanish-language media appearance, reported by EssentiallySports on October 3, he said he had accepted a January fight. The opponent, he said, is "neither Prates nor Ian Garry." He called it, in translation, "my last fight before a title shot."

Garry tells it differently. He wrote on Instagram that a main event against Morales was set, saying "The date is locked in," per EssentiallySports. That hasn't been settled.

LowKick and Agent MMA have both put Rakhmonov vs. Morales on UFC 336, on January 30 in Toronto. Agent MMA describes it as a five-round co-main event. Neither names a source, and the UFC hasn't announced it.

The two fighters

Rakhmonov, from Kazakhstan, is 19-0, and six of his seven UFC wins came by finish. He hasn't fought since beating Garry by unanimous decision in a five-round title eliminator at UFC 310 on December 7, 2024. A knee injury kept him out of 2025, and he had surgery in January 2026, according to Wikipedia. The UFC took him out of its rankings in February.

EssentiallySports reported (via Yardbarker) that he hurt the knee again in rehab before that surgery. In July, it added, his physician said "there are no longer any medical reasons preventing" his return.

Morales, a 27-year-old from Ecuador, is also 19-0, with seven UFC wins. His last three were first-round stoppages of Neil Magny, Gilbert Burns and Sean Brady, the last at UFC 322 on November 15, 2025, per Wikipedia). He hasn't fought in 2026; he was the backup for the UFC 330 title fight in August.

Neither man has ever lost money for his backers in the UFC. Rakhmonov has been the favourite in all seven of his UFC fights and closed at −377 against Garry. Morales closed as a +123 underdog against Brady and stopped him in the first round.

The title picture

Islam Makhachev holds the welterweight title. He took it from Jack Della Maddalena in November 2025 and defended it against Garry in August. Carlos Prates, who stopped Della Maddalena in May, says the UFC promised him the next shot, according to Uncrowned. Sherdog, citing Álvaro Colmenero, reports that Makhachev vs. Prates is being targeted for the same UFC 336 card; the UFC hasn't confirmed it.

That makes Rakhmonov vs. Morales the obvious fight to decide who gets the next title shot after Makhachev vs. Prates. We think it's the right one to make, because the winner would have a clear claim, and neither unbeaten man is left waiting.

The doubt is the knee. Rakhmonov's win over Garry was also meant to set up a title shot, and injuries took it away. By January he will have been out for more than two years. Brady, the last man Morales beat, has said he believes Rakhmonov will never fight again and that there's "no way" he faces Morales in December, LowKick reported.