Dana White is not sure about the future of the women’s featherweight division.
While the division has had a total of three champions, women’s 14lb has never had an official rankings list on the UFC’s website. For the most part, champ-champ Amanda Nunes has bounced between the divisions, largely facing featherweight champions from other organizations in her defenses of that title.
Currently, Nunes is set to defend her bantamweight title against Julianna Peña, at UFC 269, and Dana White seems unsure that she will ever return to 145lb. When asked about the featherweight division at the UFC Vegas 42 post-fight presser, the UFC President seemingly said that the decision on whether the UFC gets rid of the division lies in the hands of Nunes, and what she chooses to do after her December 11th fight.
“Yeah, I don’t know. It’s gonna depend on what the champ (Nunes) wants to do. It’s gonna depend. We’ve got this fight coming up with her, and we’ll see how that fight plays out, and then we’ll figure out what we’ll do with that division… Yeah, I don’t know,” White said.
What makes this information interesting to hear at this current point in time, is that PFL lightweight champion and Olympic gold medalist Kayla Harrison is currently a free agent. This has led to numerous back and forth between her and the UFC, with White regularly dismissing Harrison, saying she should stay with the PFL, where she can win millions without fighting top fighters.
If Amanda Nunes decides that she does not want to continue fighting at featherweight, and Dana White and the UFC drop the division, it will almost certainly end all talks of her and Kayla Harrison fighting each other. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out, and what the champ-champ has to say about the situation.
