Michael
Morales (19-0) and Prates (24-7) are the leading contenders for
the next
Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight title shot against
Makhachev (29-1). Brady believes Morales will give Makhachev a
harder time than Prates will, citing how the Ecuadorian is more of
an unknown and his grappling hasn't been put to the test in the
UFC.

Sean Brady explains why Michael Morales poses a tougher test
for Islam Makhachev

While Brady (19-2) acknowledges Prates' dangerous knockout power,
he believes Makhachev will have his way against the Brazilian on
the ground. Brady notes that we're yet to see Morales get
challenged on the ground, hence making him more of a puzzle for the
UFC welterweight champ.

“I think Prates can knock anybody out, for sure,†Brady told Ariel
Helwani. “Out of Prates and Morales, everyone's gonna say I'm
biased because I lost to Morales, but I think Morales will give
Islam a harder time. I was asking for the Carlos Prates fight, so
I've gone back and done the tape study on him, where I've seen guys
in One FC take him down and beat him on the ground. I think Islam
will be able to do the same thing, whereas with Morales, we still
don't know how good he is. We still don't know how good his ground
game is. We don't know how good his cardio is. We don't know all
these things, and I think that's gonna play a lot more of a
factor.â€

Morales hasn't fought since finishing Brady last November and the
latter believes the unbeaten 170-pounder needs to beat either
Ian
Garry or Shavkat
Rakhmonov before fighting for the title. Moreover, Makhachev
has already set his sights on Prates for his second title defense
at welterweight.

Meanwhile, Brady rebounded from the loss to Morales with a dominant
decision win over Joaquin
Buckley. He is now scheduled to fight Gabriel
Bonfim (20-1) on Nov. 7 at Meta Apex in Las Vegas.

Humphrey, who recently beat Alexis
Miranda on
Dana White's Contender Series via submission to earn an

Ultimate Fighting Championship contract, grabbed fans'
attention for his killer instinct. He has since claimed that he
“embodies violence a lot in a healthy way.â€

Ronald Humphrey explains why he says he ’embodies violence’
after earning a UFC contract

When asked about the criticism of Ian Garry’s
performance in the recent welterweight title fight and UFC CEO
Dana
White's comments about the Irishman's lack of killer instinct,
Humphrey offered a very different perspective, explaining that
violence is a central part of how he approaches life.

“Yeah, I embody violence. I love it,†Humphrey said. “Literally,
I’ll walk into like a Whole Foods sometimes, and I just see all the
people that can’t fight. I’m like, man, I could really f*ck all
y’all up, and there’s nothing y’all could do about it, and I could
take this store over. And maybe I have like a couple of minutes
until the police get there, but like even then, like you’re done.
Like you’re cooked. Like what are you going to do to me? So yeah, I
definitely embody violence a lot in a healthy way.â€

Humphrey (5-0) showcased his well-rounded skillset against Miranda
on
Week 3 of DWCS 2026, scoring a big takedown in the opening
seconds, picking apart his counterpart with precise strikes and
finishing with a rear-naked choke.

Mir, the daughter of former
Ultimate Fighting Championship titleholder Frank Mir, was
one of the most highly touted prospects going into her
Dana White's Contender Series clash against Alex
Apodaca. She was a -6000 favorite, the biggest in DWCS history,
ahead of the fight.

However, Apodaca edged out a hard-fought unanimous decision over
Mir in the biggest upset in DWCS history. The latter has now taken
to social media to address her defeat.

Bella Mir vows to rebound after Alex Apodaca hands her first
professional MMA defeat

Mir (4-1) has since issued her first statement in the aftermath of
her first professional MMA loss. She says that this is not the
first time she has handled a defeat, albeit this was under the
biggest spotlight. Mir vows to bounce back stronger, as she has
from all of her previous setbacks.

“I've lost so many times,†Mir wrote on Instagram. “Big or small,
each loss carries me into a different mindset and learning
experience to be a better athlete. I have overcome every single
obstacle into my life and I will overcome this one. Now it's just a
bit different that this loss is more famous than my other ones.
Thank you so much to everyone sending me love and encouragement.
And I promise to all of you that it takes way more than hate and 1
single loss in my MMA career to break me. I want to thank my team,
my family, my fans and Dana for getting me here and further. I also
want to thank Alex for taking this fight; all respect to her. Every
time I lose, I come back and win something bigger and better. No
loss has ever defined me, and neither will this one. And how cool
is it to do what I love on such a big platform. Literally living my
dream!! Next Best Thing.â€

Mir won a Division I National championship in wrestling at North
Central College last year, along with two wins at UFC BJJ. Ahead of
her DWCS loss, Mir had said that she wanted to be champion across
multiple sports, eyeing UFC and Zuffa Boxing titles as well.