Dana White has issued his strongest rebuke of a potential 165-pound division to date.
Dana White has consistently and repeatedly shut down talks of a 165-pound division, but like a zombie in a horror flick, the talks continue to rise and never rest in peace. In a recent appearance on the inaugural episode of the My Mom’s Basement podcast, Dana White was more adamant than ever that there is no 165-pound division in the works and that as long as he is the president of The Ultimate Fighting Championship, there never will be:
“Not in the next seven years,” White insisted on whether or not there will be a 165-pound division in the UFC’s future. “I’m here for seven more years…when I go, they can make a 180, 165, 122, whatever they want to do when I’m gone they can do. It ain’t happening while I’m here.”
When asked why Dana White was so opposed to the idea, he answered the question with a question of his own,
“What’s the appeal in it?” White asked. “I think it’s a lot of guys who know they can’t win at either 170 or 155 that would all jump ship. If you look at right now our 170-pound division and our ’55-pound division, they’re stacked. So you got Usman, Woodley, Covington, Wonderboy, Masvidal, Askren, Till, Ponzinibbio, Lawler, Edwards, right? There’s the 170 division.
Lightweights, at ’55, you got Khabib, Tony, Conor, Poirier, Iaquinta, Kevin Lee, who’s moving over to Welterweight to make it even better, Edson Barboza, Gaethje…Cerrone, Felder, Gillespie, Diaz…you build the ’65-pound division, you completely drain both of those divisions. It ain’t happening while I’m here. These divisions are stacked. We have tons of great fights in both divisions. We don’t need a ‘65-pound division.”
Many fighters have continued to lobby for a 165-pound division and fans and reporters have also continued to back the idea in droves. All the while, Dana White has continued to be as clear as possible that these hopes are being squandered on a lost cause.
Do you believe this latest quote from Dana White will finally kill the zombie that is the 165-pound division conversation?
