UFC president Dana White announced at yesterday's UFC 131 press conference that the organization is looking to add a 125 pound flyweight division "really soon". The organization currently promotes mens fights in the heavyweight (265lbs), light heavyweight (205lbs), middleweight (185lbs), welterweight (170lbs), lightweight (155lbs), featherweight (145lbs), and bantamweight (135lbs) divisions.
Dana White: UFC Will Add Flyweights ‘Really Soon’
”We have to get out there; we have to create the division. “We bring the guys in, sign them and start putting on fights. You figure out who the best is, and you have a title fight,” said White.
White did not dismiss the possibility of holding a grand prix tournament to determine the first ever UFC flyweight champion.
“Maybe,” he said. “There’s a lot of options we could do.”
Currently the Tachi Palace Fights organization promotes many of the best-known flyweight fighters including their champion Darrell Montague, and several other top fighters in the division including ex-champ Ulysses Gomez, Jussier da Silva, John Dodson and Ian McCall.
Olympic gold medal winning wrestler Henry Cejudo is expected to make his MMA debut at flyweight and is the kind of athlete a promotion could build a division around.
Many top Japanese fighters compete at flyweight including Mamoru Yamaguchi, Yasuhiro Urushitani, and Yuki Shojo. The UFC is always looking for international talent to help it expand in key markets and Japan has so far proven to be a very tough nut to crack. Both due to the difficulties of doing business there as a foreign company and because of the paucity of top-tier talent produced by that country in recent years. Adding a flyweight division and bringing over top Japanese talent could help the UFC in their search for the promotion's first-ever Asian champion.
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