The Makhachev 'Ducking' Charge Is a Rerun — and the Last Three Times, the Accusers Lost
The fastest way to lose an argument in mixed martial arts is to make it before the fight is booked. The noise around Islam Makhachev supposedly ducking Carlos Prates ahead of UFC 336 is not new information about Makhachev. It is the same accusation the sport hands every dominant champion once the line of contenders gets long enough — and the last three times it ran this hot, it curdled.
Daniel Cormier is the tell. Cormier spent the back half of his career being told he was avoiding somebody, so when he tells MMA Junkie that Makhachev is "not afraid of Carlos Prates" and "would fight him anywhere," he is not doing PR for a friend. He is describing a film he has already starred in. Yahoo Sports framed the same defense against claims of ducking at UFC 336, and in a separate conversation flagged by MMA Sucka, Cormier's warning pointed the other direction entirely — at Prates, about Michael Morales.
That two-way traffic is the whole story. When a retired champion has to defend the champion's courage and warn the challenger about his own queue in the same news cycle, you are not watching a controversy. You are watching a rerun.
Precedent one: Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson
Between 2015 and 2020, the UFC booked that fight five times. It fell apart five times — injuries, a weight-cut hospitalization, and finally a pandemic that shut the sport down. Nobody ducked anybody. The fight simply refused to exist, and into that vacuum poured five years of theorizing about who was really avoiding whom.
The lesson is uncomfortable for everyone currently posting: in a sport where the fight that doesn't happen is the only fight people talk about, absence gets read as intent. The longer the gap, the less the accusation needs evidence. Khabib retired without the Ferguson fight ever being settled, and the argument is still running.
Precedent two: Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall
Jones tore a pectoral muscle in 2023. Aspinall won the interim heavyweight title in his absence. What followed was a masterclass in how a medical fact becomes a moral one. Every month Jones went without signing the unification bout, the ducking charge got heavier and less dependent on anything Jones actually did.
This is the precedent Makhachev's critics should study hardest, because it shows the trap has no exit ramp. Say nothing and you are presumed guilty. Explain yourself and you are presumed to be building an excuse. The only thing that ever cleared Jones was a date on a calendar, and until there was one, no amount of explanation moved the needle a single degree.
Precedent three: Arman Tsarukyan vs. Makhachev
The most relevant case is the champion's own. Tsarukyan earned a rematch with Makhachev, then withdrew days before UFC 311 with a back injury. Renato Moicano stepped in on short notice and Makhachev submitted him.
Notice what happened to the narrative. It flipped in about 48 hours. The question stopped being whether Makhachev would fight the top contender and became whether the top contender could be relied on to show up. Makhachev never made a speech. He took a fight he didn't have to take against a man he had not prepared for, and the accusation died of neglect.
That is the third data point, and it points in one direction: the accusation of ducking is almost never resolved by argument. It is resolved by somebody signing something.
What the Morales warning actually means
Cormier's caution to Prates about Michael Morales is the part of this story that will age best. It is a reminder that the line behind a champion is longer than the argument in front of him. A contender who spends his leverage demanding one specific name can wake up to find the promotion has moved on and booked the man behind him — and in a division with three live threats, the UFC has no incentive to wait.
This is the piece American fans tend to skip past. Fighters do not choose opponents; matchmakers do, and they are balancing a pay-per-view calendar, an arena in a state with an athletic commission, and a roster of people who all believe they are next. "Ducking" is usually a complaint about the matchmaker wearing the champion's face. The champion is just the only person available to be mad at.
It is the same instinct that has NFL fans convinced a quarterback is ducking cold-weather games and baseball fans convinced a manager is hiding a starter from a lineup. The accusation is cheap, it travels fast, and it requires no proof because it is unfalsifiable by design.
What to actually watch
Ignore the argument and track three things. First, whether a date and a venue appear for Makhachev–Prates; a real booking ends this conversation overnight, exactly as it did at UFC 311. Second, whether Prates gets offered Morales in the meantime and what he says about it — a contender who turns down a live body while demanding a champion has handed the other side its closing statement.
Third, listen to Cormier. He is not neutral here and does not pretend to be, but he has been the accused, he has been the analyst, and he is now the guy doing cleanup for a champion who would rather not talk about it. When his tone shifts from defending the champion to explaining the matchmaking, that is your signal the promotion has decided the fight is not happening next.
Until then, treat "he's ducking" the way you would treat any other claim about a fight that hasn't been signed: as a rumor with a marketing budget. Ask for the date. The last three times, that question was the only one that mattered.
Common questions
What is Daniel Cormier actually saying about Islam Makhachev and Carlos Prates?
Per MMA Junkie, Cormier said Makhachev is not afraid of Prates and would fight him anywhere, pushing back on claims that the champion is ducking the challenger ahead of UFC 336. Yahoo Sports reported the same defense. Separately, MMA Sucka reported Cormier warning Prates about Michael Morales.
Has Makhachev ducked contenders before?
The closest precedent cuts the other way. At UFC 311, Arman Tsarukyan withdrew days out with a back injury and Makhachev fought short-notice replacement Renato Moicano instead, then submitted him. That outcome undercut the ducking narrative without Makhachev having to argue the point.
Why does the 'ducking' accusation keep coming back?
Because it can't be disproven until a fight is signed. The Khabib Nurmagomedov–Tony Ferguson fight was booked five times and never happened, and the Jon Jones–Tom Aspinall situation hardened the same way during Jones's 2023 pectoral injury. In each case, only a date on the calendar settled it.