According to former UFC flyweight competitor Zach Makovsky, who recently signed on with ACB (Absolute Championship Berkut) in Russia, the UFC has failed to properly promote the flyweight division. Makovsky, who recently parted ways with the world’s leading mixed martial arts promotion, spoke to Bloody Elbow’s The MMA Circus, and outlined why he felt the UFC was “not doing a good job of trying to make the division more successful.”
Stating that he had no problems with his treatment personally, Makovsky elaborated, saying that
You win a couple fights on the undercard and they give you a title shot before you’ve really had any kind of steam or promotion behind you. It’s just kind of Demetrious vs. insert name here. I feel like they haven’t done a good job of building the division around Demetrious. Demetrious is incredible. He’s probably the most well-rounded fighter I’ve seen and really just incredible in every area. They have him at the top, and it’s kind of like a mess beneath him.
It’s not the first time this argument has been made recently. Yet it outlines the ongoing problem the UFC has with its smallest division. Finishing his UFC contract on an 0-3 skid saw Makovsky, still a top 15 flyweight in the promotion, head to ACB. Around the same time, former title contenders Ali Bagautinov and Kyoji Horiguchi parted ways with the UFC as well. This exodus of talent, combined with names like John Dodson and John Lineker moving up to bantamweight, gives the UFC flyweight division a feeling akin to a sinking ship.
On the flip side, Demetrious Johnson, the first and only UFC flyweight champion, is poised to tie Anderson Silva’s title defense record (10) at UFC on Fox 24 in April should he be successful against Wilson Reis. Yet if the UFC can’t manage to make stars out of Johnson’s opponents, despite him being at the top of the pound-for-pound conversation, then the situation really is dire.
