Islam Makhachev has declared his next UFC fight will be ‘one of the last of my career.’Makhachev is set to put his welterweight title on the line against the winner of Carlos Prates’ bout against Michael Morales at UFC 336 in January.Former lightweight king Makhachev made the first defence of his welterweight title reign against Machado Garry in AugustGettyPrates was originally expected to be the man to face Makhachev next after the Russian No. 1 pound-for-pound star defended his 170lbs throne against Ian Machado Garry in August.However, Makhachev informed the UFC this month that he will not be ready for the Toronto card, despite suggesting after his win over Machado Garry that he wanted a quick turnaround.Instead, Prates now fights Morales for the interim welterweight title at UFC 336, giving the winner a direct route to UFC gold.Only time will tell when either welterweight star will get the chance to face Makhachev.View Tweet: https://t.co/bQSw97TzNeBut the 35-year-old has said the unification fight will be one of his last.“My next fight is one of the last in my career,” Makhachev said out of nowhere on social media on Friday.“They say Prates is too dangerous for me and Morales is too good for me.“So I want to face the best of them and prove to the world once again who is the best in the world.”Makhachev dismissed retirement talk in AugustMakhachev has already faced retirement questions this year.Many MMA fans believed the two-division champion would call it quits after he fought Machado Garry at UFC 330.Makhachev said he wants to ‘beat all records’ when asked about retiring this summerGetty“Somebody put out fake news that I’m gonna retire after this fight,” Makhachev said in response to those rumours ahead of his victory.“No, it’s not true. I want to keep going. The feeling when you’re staying in shape, becoming [the] best fighter, is [an] amazing thing.“You’re never gonna find something like this outside the sport. I want to keep fighting, and we will beat all records and stay here for more years.”This came at a time when Makhachev revealed he had been offered a deal with Zuffa Boxing by Saudi string-puller Turki Alalshikh.Makhachev said he held ‘good talks’ with Alalshikh about a boxing match for the promotion, which was co-founded by UFC CEO Dana White. A seemingly frustrated White discussed Makhachev’s UFC 336 absence this past weekend.Makhachev is the protege of MMA legend Khabib Nurmagomedov, who retired prematurely in 2020Getty“On average, Islam fights like once a year,” White remarked.“He was slated for January and then said, ‘I don’t want to fight until Ramadan.’“You just can’t hold up divisions like this. You gotta keep moving. This fight [Prates vs Morales] makes sense.”Makhachev broke Anderson Silva’s 16-fight record for the longest win streak in UFC history when he outpointed Machado Garry.He is 29-1 in his professional MMA career and has won 18 of his 19 bouts since joining the UFC in 2015.talkSPORT's UFC pound-for-pound rankingstalkSPORT.com has collectively voted on the best fighters to form a regularly updated UFC pound-for-pound (P4P) rankings system for the rest of 2026 and beyond.Our P4P list will be updated regularly based on performances in the Octagon — with wins, records, title wins and defences, calibre of opponents, methods of victory and much more all determining who makes it.UFC champions Islam Makhachev, Joshua Van and Sean Strickland feature – but big stars such as Alex Pereira and Tom Aspinall miss out.