Michael Morales expects 2026 to be the biggest year of his career to date.
Morales (19-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) enjoyed a flawless 2025, earning first-round knockout victories over Gilbert Burns and Sean Brady to vault himself into the welterweight title picture.
His win over Brady came at UFC 322 in November, on the same night Islam Makhachev (28-1 MMA, 17-1 UFC) dethroned Jack Della Maddalena (18-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) to become the new welterweight champion.
Morales’ name now sits alongside those of Kamaru Usman (21-4 MMA, 16-3 UFC), Shavkat Rakhmonov (19-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC), and Ian Machado Garry (17-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) on the shortlist of contenders to face Makhachev, and he revealed this week that he is close to signing on the dotted line for his next fight.
“We’re expecting 20-0 right now, which is coming,” Morales told Carlos Contreras Legaspi (in Spanish). “Hopefully this is the opportunity for the belt. We’re already on that topic. We’re involved (in discussions), we don’t know if we’ll fight in June or a little bit before, depending on the opponent, but we’re already here (preparing). It’s like we’re making progress on the topic of fighting already.”
Morales revealed that the UFC initially floated the idea of a potential fight against Della Maddalena in early 2026, before later sounding him out about a possible title matchup against Makhachev at UFC 324 later this month.
“They told me about a possible fight against (Jack Della Maddalena) for March or April, but then they came out that they also wanted me to fight in January, but I didn’t want to fight that soon,” Morales explained.
“I just told them I wanted to take a break and get some rest. I think they floated the idea of that fight with Islam Makhachev in January and he didn’t want to fight that soon either. January is just too soon, but June or July might work better and if I can get a fight against Della Maddalena that would be great. It’s one more fight to gain some experience before fighting for the title, but if they want me to fight Makhachev right away, I’ll accept that, no problem.”
