Retired UFC welterweight Matt Brown criticized the UFC’s decision to create an interim welterweight belt for UFC 336 on January 30 in Toronto.
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UFC 336 is scheduled for January 30 at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena, with two championships scheduled for the card.
The event returns the UFC to Toronto for the first time since the city hosted UFC 297 in 2024, which closed with Dricus du Plessis taking the middleweight title from Sean Strickland in the main event.
In UFC 336’s main event, Joshua Van is set to defend his flyweight belt for the third time against Manel Kape.
The co-main event features welterweight contenders Carlos Prates and Michael Morales, with the UFC creating an interim welterweight belt for their matchup.
Brown, a retired UFC welterweight who competed 30 times under the UFC banner between 2008 and 2023, said on Fighter vs. Writer that he does not agree with the interim-title decision.
“Interim title? [Makhachev] just fought like less than two months ago,” Brown said. “We don’t need to do this. The interim title’s not gonna mean anything. It’s an amazing fight, right? Morales, Prates…But, you’re knocking off a contender. I’d rather see Islam fight both of them – maybe that’s not what Islam wants to do. I think he’s kind of earned his keep there…But, the last thing I like out of this is a f***ing interim title.”
The UFC created the interim welterweight belt despite the fact that Islam Makhachev’s most recent welterweight title defence came in August, when he defended his belt against Ian Machado Garry at UFC 330.
Both fighters entering the interim-belt bout arrive on winning runs: Morales is listed as 19-0 overall with seven UFC victories, while Prates is described as coming off three consecutive knockout wins and most recently defeating Leon Edwards and Jack Della Maddalena.
UFC 336 is also described as including a flyweight title bout featuring Van, who previously fought Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 331, as part of the promotion’s latest visit to Toronto.
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