The UFC flyweight division isn’t yet but the weight class definitely appears to be on life support.
Rumors have been swirling for weeks that the UFC was planning to close down the men’s flyweight division after several fighters on the roster were recently released. Several other flyweights are rumored to have been let go from the promotion, although the UFC rarely comments on athletes released from the roster.
While Henry Cejudo is scheduled to defend his flyweight title in January against bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw, it certainly seems like that could be the final fight in the division.
UFC president Dana White addressed the future of the flyweights on the UFC Unfiltered podcast and while he didn’t put a nail in the coffin, he didn’t exactly sound enthusiastic about plans for the division going forward.
“The flyweight division just never took off,” White said on the UFC Unfiltered podcast.
It never caught on even with a dominant champion like Demetrious [Johnson], it just never caught on. People didn’t care. I battled for a long time, I tried to keep it alive and obviously it’s still going on now.
“We still have fights going on in that division. We’ll see what the future holds for it.”
The days of the flyweight division appeared to be numbered after the UFC traded away former champion Demetrious Johnson to ONE Championship just recently in exchange for welterweight Ben Askren.
Johnson was the longest reigning champion in UFC history but he never became a major draw for the promotion no matter how many cards he headlined or opponents he defeated consecutively.
While there are flyweight fights still on the schedule including a showdown this Friday between Joseph Benavidez and Alex Perez, the writing seems to be on the wall that the 125-pound men’s division won’t be around that much longer.
