The UFC Has Begun Disbanding Their Flyweight Division, Which Could Be Completely Dissolved By The End Of 2018
On Tuesday, the mixed martial arts world was hit with the unfortunate news that the UFC would begin to dissolve/disband its flyweight division, effective immediately, giving some 125lb-ers the option to move up to Bantamweight, and cutting the remainders – likely those coming off losses, according to Ariel Helwani.
I wouldn’t say this news should have come as a surprise to anybody after the face of the division was traded away and a superfight involving current champion – Henry Cejudo – moving up to 135lbs started materializing, but still, when FloCombat made all of our assumptions a reality, it hurt. Immediately, I was flooded with questions about how, or why, the UFC could just rid itself of an entire weight class, what would happen to the flyweights cut, etc, so in this blog, I’ll be giving you a brief history of the flyweight division, smartenin’ you up as to how we’ve got to where we are at now, and giving you my thoughts on the whole matter.
To begin, the flyweight division was first announced as an addition to the UFC in 2011 by Dana White, set to debut that following March with a four-man tournament to decide the weight class’ inaugural champion. Once that came to fruition, on March 3rd, 2012 – Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson faced Ian McCall, and Joseph Benavidez faced Yasuhiro Urushitani – birthing a new era of the UFC. Benavidez won his fight via second-round knockout, earning himself a Performance of the Night bonus and moving onto the finals of the tourney, while Johnson/McCall wound up being drenched in controversy.
Despite it being a fantastic, “Fight of the Night” bonus winning bout, an error made by the judges and athletic commission led to Johnson being declared the winner in the cage, while in all actually, the fight was scored a majority draw, resulting in the matchup being rebooked for a later date – a rematch in which “Mighty Mouse” picked up the victory.
In the flyweight tournament finals at UFC 152, Demetrious Johnson then defeated Joseph Benavidez via split decision after five hard-fought rounds, becoming the division’s first ever champion. From there, we saw a reign of dominance – or rather, excellence, unlike any other in Ultimate Fighting Championship history.
Eleven consecutive title defenses against top level opponents like Joseph Benavidez, Ian McCall, John Dodson, Henry Cejudo, Kyoji Horiguchi, and Wilson Reis. Seven finishes. Seven performance bonuses. Oodles of ‘Fighter of the Year’ went DJ’s way over the years (including an ESPY from ESPN). Endorsement opportunities opened up left and right, and he became one of the faces of the UFC’s partnership with MetroPCS while growing a large following in the eSports community, and on paper, I’m sure this all sounds fine and dandy. More than ‘dandy’, really, as this all sounds like a better-than-ideal trajectory for a champion in your promotion! You know, havin’ his reputation become known as either the #1 or #2 mixed martial artist of all time in the process?
There was a major case of trouble in paradise, however.
Somewhere down the line, Dana White changed his tone on the division he once rabidly defended against naysayers, and became incredibly outspoken about his displeasure with the flyweights towards the end of Demetrious Johnson’s reign at the top, deeming them “unmarketable”. I believe his case here relied heavily on the lackluster numbers Johnson had been putting up in his fights, and I suppose the weight class as a whole having a slightly higher “non-finish” rate than other divisions, but of course when one of your champions puts up numbers below your expectations, you’re stuck with a chicken/egg scenario. Could the UFC have done more to generate interest in Mighty Mouse, or could Mighty Mouse have done more to generate interest in Mighty Mouse. Historically, the most successful stars are born from a perfect storm of the two – a near equal effort – something I never really felt Johnson, or the rest of the flyweight division, were given a fair shake on at almost any point, but I digress (for now). Johnson pushed back, claiming he wasn’t being put in enough positions to succeed and was set up to fail more often than not, angering the UFC President further, and causing for even more tension, and eventually, everything came to a head in June of 2017.
After Cody Garbrandt was forced to withdraw from a scheduled UFC 213 title defense versus rival TJ Dillashaw, an odd thought popped into everyone’s brains: Why not have TJ go after MIGHTY MOUSE’s championship in the time being? Dillashaw formerly being a flyweight, was very interested in this contest, but the Flyweight King was not. It seemed there was a ton of pushback from Johnson, then in negotiations to fight contender Ray Borg for his championship, and before we knew it, he released a lengthy statement to MMAFighting.com explaining why he wouldn’t fight TJ Dillashaw (at least not before fighting Ray Borg) – and in said statement, Mighty Mouse detailed his frustration with Dana White and his treatment of his division very openly. It can be read in full below, courtesy of MMAFighting.com.
For years I have been a company man and kept quiet, accepting fights, doing as they asked, and always remaining humble and grateful for the opportunities provided to me through mixed martial arts. This is how I was raised through the sport. Unfortunately, UFC’s mistreatment and bullying has finally forced me to speak out. I’ve decided to speak out now as I feel like my values and character as a person and a fighter are being tarnished by an organization I’ve done nothing but sweat and bleed for over the last seven years of my life. If it takes me speaking up and encouraging other fighters to ban together to start getting fair treatment, then so be it.
UFC Matchmaker Mick Maynard called and offered the fight vs. Ray Borg. I thought [Sergio] Pettis was a more marketable name and on a longer winning streak. Mick went back to Dana, then came back and told us that I had no choice, it was going to be Ray Borg, not Pettis, and there were no other options. That was the command from Dana and company. This would mean that my only chance at PPV points at flyweight was vs. Ray Borg. I said OK, but it’s not fair to make that my only chance at PPV points, when Cody Garbrandt is saying he wants to come down and fight me at flyweight, which was the fight I wanted. We told Mick that to be fair we would take the fight, but [we] want PPV points for future fights at flyweight. Mick agreed and said it was fair and didn’t see any problem with that situation. Mick spoke to Dana and [UFC matchmaker] Sean Shelby, who then told him to deny giving me any future PPV points for all of my future flyweight fights. Further, I still had to fight Ray Borg and they were giving me no other choice. I accepted the fight with Ray and decided to deal with the unfair situation and despicable treatment by Dana and Sean after I succeed in breaking the consecutive title fight defense record in my next fight vs. Borg. Mick thanked me for accepting the fight, knowing that I was being screwed over and mistreated by Dana and Sean.
I wanted a reason for not being allowed any future PPV points. Sean Shelby called and told us how smaller fighters don’t sell, that UFC can’t make stars of anyone, and that a fight between Cody and I wouldn’t be a sellable fight. We disagreed. I think a fight between Cody and I would be popular if it was even given a small serving of the marketing efforts put into other big fights.
UFC has failed to market and promote me appropriately. Prior to my last fight, where I tied the record for the most consecutive successful title defenses, we waited to re-post UFC’s social media posts about me from their Facebook page. There weren’t any posts until a few days into fight week, then, there were a total of two posts. In comparison to others who they promote across their social media platforms, they failed to do their job in promoting me and that monumental event. In my recent conversations, Sean and Dana have confirmed UFC’s lack of desire to put any effort into promoting us.
In addition to the above, I want to address the lack of marketing and promotion of the flyweight division, even though Dana will claim otherwise. I would challenge that the UFC doesn’t even market the division. It’s been three years since the UFC launched three new divisions in two years (2012 to 2014) where they focused most of their marketing efforts to grow female mixed martial arts, which I understand. But, we are now three years post-launch, and the company continues to do the bare minimum in marketing the division well past the launch of these other divisions. As a fighter, I pay very close attention to the amount of marketing that goes into and around my fights and I can tell you that you’d be hard pressed to find much that has been done to promote me outside of TUF 24, which was minimal in comparison to other fights, fighters and shows. With me, the UFC chooses not to market the best fighter in the world and arguably the greatest fighter of all time. I can’t think of any other sports organization in the world that has the best player in the sport where the league, or the organization, doesn’t market that player to their loyal fan base to sell more of their product. Look at my track record for showing up to fights. Look at my track record of finishing fights. Look at my track record of getting fight night bonuses. Ask yourself if you think that if the UFC decided to truly put marketing dollars behind me that they couldn’t sell me or my fights.
Completely unrelated — and after the accepted fight vs. Ray Borg — Cody Garbradt injured his back and TJ Dillashaw said he wanted to fight me. Dana told me he wanted me to fight TJ, which I disagreed with for multiple reasons. First, TJ has never fought at flyweight and is unlikely to make the weight, which would then eliminate the possibility of breaking the title defense record. Second, they have already told me that a fight between Cody and I wouldn’t be sellable, so fighting TJ would have no monetary upside. Third, TJ is not a flyweight or a current champion in another weight class and was KO’ed by the flyweight whom I beat twice already. Last, Ray Borg and I already agreed to the fight, which UFC tyrannically demanded, while denying me any future PPV points.
After telling Dana my reasons, Dana angrily told me that I am fighting TJ, once again, with no other option or say in my career, and against the plans we had previously laid out. He went on further to say that if I didn’t take the fight against TJ, and drop Borg as the opponent, he would get rid of the entire flyweight division. He said, this is for TJ and I’m taking away TJ’s opportunity. That fact that he feels that what I should do in my career is for TJ, tells where his priority lies.
Sorry Dana, my career is about Demetrious Johnson and my goals of fighting the best current flyweights, breaking the record of title defenses, going after the bantamweight champion after I have broken the record, and making money for my family. My career is not about doing for Dana’s buddy, who is neither a bantamweight champion or flyweight contender. We ended by disagreeing and left it there. The next day, Dana went to the media and announced that I was fighting TJ Dillashaw, in an obvious attempt to bully me in the media and tarnish my reputation. I posted a short statement letting people know that I had not agreed to the TJ fight, but had already agreed to fight Ray Borg, as demanded by UFC.
Dana put up an interview stating that it was “insane” that I didn’t want to fight TJ, that “he makes the matches and that is the match he is making,” and, “You tell me why DJ doesn’t want to fight TJ,” trying to make it as though I am scared or ducking TJ Dillashaw.
Mick spoke to me to try to change the offer from Ray to TJ. I told Mick that I thought TJ should fight once in the division first, prove he can make the weight and get a win at that weight, then fight me if I wasn’t already busy with Cody. Mick agreed that it made the most sense.
Later Mick called again, as mandated by Dana, to try to make the fight with TJ and drop Ray. We told him that we didn’t think TJ would make the weight and the fight would be off since it would no longer be a title fight without TJ making weight. Mick said they guaranteed that TJ would make weight. We told him that since it was guaranteed by TJ and UFC was demanding and putting me in a bad circumstance, then it is fair that if TJ didn’t make weight, the fight would be off and I would still get my guarantee, plus TJ’s guaranteed pay. Mick said that Ray would be on the card and he could fill in if TJ didn’t make weight. We said, oh, then which one do I train for? I thought TJ guaranteed he was making weight. Is it a world championship with the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter on earth, or an amateur tournament where I don’t know who I’m fighting until I get there. Obviously there was no guarantee and they just wanted to push me to do something that they knew wasn’t a good choice for my career. The “guarantees” that they made had nothing to back them up and they were unwilling to give a real guarantee to compensate me for all the damage I put on my body preparing for a fight that may not happen. The fact that they said Ray will be a backup shows the lack of respect they have for what we go through in preparing for a fight at this level.
Mick went back to Dana and Sean, then came back and told us that they don’t agree with my request and I have to fight TJ with no guarantee to make weight or financial incentive if he doesn’t make weight. This is typical of the unfulfilled promises and bullying that has gone on through my UFC career.
Now I understand how long that statement is, if you’ve just scrolled right past it looking for a TL;DR from me on it, but I really would recommend you give it a full read. I even tried to highlight some of the more important sections to help ya out! But yeah, even though I believe that there was a fair bit of fault on both sides in this specific instance, receiving this perspective from one of the greatest competitors to ever do it is fascinating. If you’re really just not that interested, however, Mighty Mouse provides his own TL;DR to close his statement, which I will annotate now with some insight/how I feel about this.
In summary:
I agreed to their tyrannical demand to fight Ray Borg and Ray also agreed.
Here, Johnson calls the UFC’s demand to fight Ray Borg “tyrannical” because he originally wanted to face Sergio Pettis, who he felt was more marketable and on a longer win-streak in the division. The UFC, according to Johnson, didn’t even give this thought the time of day and instead told him that he HAD to face Borg, no if ands or buts around it. If you know how UFC matchmaking typically goes, you know this is definitely a bit peculiar when dealing with a champion like Mighty Mouse.
UFC has refused to give me PPV points on any future flyweight bouts, and has never given me any PPV points on previous bouts. My request was fair and the matchmaker in charge of the flyweight and bantamweight division agreed.
Don’t think I’ve gotta spell this one out for anybody. Dana White didn’t feel Demetrious Johnson was a big enough draw to ever receive a percentage of the pay-per-views he was fighting on. I don’t know nearly enough about the pay-per-view business to know whether or not this was an outrageous ask for Mighty Mouse, so I can’t really comment here, but it definitely doesn’t seem too outrageous.
I gave UFC fair conditions to change the fight to TJ Dillashaw and they refused.
So, the UFC wanted Johnson to fight Dillashaw for the 125lb title, AFTER they strongarmmed Mighty Mouse into accepting a fight with Ray Borg, a guy he didn’t want to fight in the first place, and he told them he had no interest for a plethora of reasons, but two main ones.
1. Johnson wanted to stand his ground and sorta teach the UFC a lesson. Fight stubbornness with stubbornness. I actually respect the fuck out of that, personally.
2. Mighty Mouse didn’t trust TJ, who hasn’t fought at flyweight in years, to make weight, which would in turn jeopardize his opportunity to make history in his next fight.
In the case that Dillashaw missed weight – even if the fight happened anyway – the Flyweight Championship would not officially be up for grabs, taking Johnson’s much-sought-after consecutive championship defense record off the board. The UFC gave Johnson a “guarantee” that Dillashaw would make weight for the fight, something completely worthless of them to say (there are way too many outside factors that go into a weight cut for the UFC to EVER guarantee that a fighter’s would be successful), so the 125lb-Champ called their bluff and said, “Alright, I’ll fight him then. If he misses weight, I’m not fighting him, and you’re not paying just paying me MY full guaranteed purse…you’re paying me TJ’s as well”, to which the UFC declined.
Dana and Sean have told me that they have no interest in marketing me or the smaller divisions, so when they say that I will make PPV money vs. Dillashaw, they leave out the fact that I have to hit certain numbers of buys, which will not be hit if they fail in marketing me like they have in my previous fights.
Dana has made an effort to bully me in the media as well as in private, in order to get what he wants, even though it is not what is best for me or the sport.
Heavy shots from DJ.
When Johnson says that Dana sometimes “bullied” him to the media in attempt to get what he wants, get this! He’s referring to an instance right after the Dillashaw negotiations soured where the UFC President went in front of the media and told them Mighty Mouse vs Dillashaw was on! Classic fight promoter trick that RIZIN just unsuccessfully tried to pull on Floyd Mayweather Jr. Read about that here.
If Dana says this will be a big PPV fight for me, and that they will promote it properly, then he can pay for it up front and explain to Ray Borg why he is being taken out of the fight that the UFC matchmaker in charge of the division put him in. Otherwise, it is just another lie and attempt to bully me to do something that Dana wants, but is not the right thing to do for the sport or my career.
UFC’s track record in making an effort to promote my fights, and Dana’s claim that this is a big chance for PPV dollars for me tells a different story than what Dana is stating to the public.
HEAVY! SHOTS!
Certainly heavier than Dana thought any 125lb-er could throw, eh? Eh? Am I right? Huh? Nice.
Now before I broke down Johnson’s TL;DR on his own statement, I said that there was a fair bit of fault on both sides here. I said that MOSTLY because Demetrious Johnson’s entire argument against fighting TJ Dillashaw pretty much relied on the fact that he questioned TJ’s reliability when it came to making weight, and Ray Borg is…well…the most unreliable flyweight in company history. Also probably one of the most unreliable overall fighters in the history of the sport.
Dana White responded to Demetrious Johnson’s statement days afterwards, in an interview with TMZ found below, where he told the paparazzi that Johnson had “the lowest-selling pay-per-view in the history of the UFC in the modern era,” before unloading on the fighter for his refusal to fight TJ Dillashaw.
“We’re not marketing him right? We built a TV show around him. ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ was about what an incredible fighter he is. We put him on FOX many times and tried to build him and it is what it is. It’s not me. I think a fight between him and T.J. Dillashaw would be something that people would actually be interested in and could sell Pay-Per-Views and could make money. But he absolutely refuses to fight the guy. It’s ridiculous.”
Ouch.
Demetrious Johnson met Ray Borg in the octagon at UFC 216 just a few months later, where he scored a highlight-reel armbar, making history – with an exclamation point.
In the meantime, between the blowoff and the fight, I asked Johnson live on Barstool Radio about what the status of he and Dana’s relationship was, and he told me with a smile that everything had been smoothed over and that things were cool – and even after this fight against Ray Borg, Dana White came out and labeled Johnson the greatest pound-for-pound fighter of all time – but I don’t believe things could’ve been much farther from the truth. Flyweights started seeming to get littler and littler opportunities, and appearing on less and less main cards, and the silence from UFC higher-ups was deafening. Every now and then, small shots would be fired from either side, but for the most part – it felt like we, the MMA fans, were living in a house with our parents in the process of a separation who were thinking about staying together for the kids, but REALLY didn’t want to.
Joseph Benavidez wasn’t afraid to tell the media how he felt very candidly earlier this year, however.
After receiving a question regarding his placement on the Fight Pass Prelims as the #1 Ranked Contender in the division on a 6-fight win streak, while CM Punk was being featured on the main card, Joe let loose.
“Even the fact that you asked that answers the question. They’re definitely snubbing the flyweights. No other person, in any division in the UFC with a No. 1 ranking and six wins in a row, would be buried on Fight Pass. Not a main event, not kicking off the card, just buried on Fight Pass. You answered your own question.
What other theory is there to have besides they are snubbing us or it’s something personal towards me or the flyweight division? Those are the only real options left because that wouldn’t happen to any other person in any other division.”
The reporter followed up, “What’s the most disappointing part about that?”, and Benavidez continued…
“It doesn’t affect the fight, so it’s kind of hard to be disappointed in that. It’s just – you want to be respected by your bosses, and obviously your peers and stuff. So that’s more the disappointing part, it’s like everything you’ve put in is almost disrespected and definitely under-appreciated. It wouldn’t happen to anyone else, so you have to feel very disrespected. No one with six wins in a row and a number one ranking would be there. So just disrespected and under-appreciated in that respect.”
“I guess another disappointing part, like I was mentioning the fans, they can’t just turn on their TV. My family, my friends, everyone who wants to see me. Some people don’t have Fight Pass. Some people, honestly, as simple as it sounds, aren’t going to login and put in all their information to get a fight on Fight Pass. I mean, they’re just not going to do it. Yeah, so that’s kind of disappointing when you talk to people and they’re like, ‘Sick, it’s on PPV.’ And you’re like, ‘Nah, it’s on this app called Fight Pass.’ And they’re like, ‘Ugh, never heard of it. How do I get it?’ Just little things like that, but the big picture is just being under-appreciated by people that should appreciate me.”
JoeJitsu definitely spewin’ some truth there, and in researching for this blog, I pulled the stats for where every flyweight bout in UFC history was place on its card, and found the results to be very interesting. It seems almost as if the decision was made – after White and Johnson’s massive public dispute – to give up on the division right then and there.
2012:
5 FLYWEIGHT FIGHTS ON MAIN CARDS
3 FLYWEIGHT FIGHTS ON PRELIMS
4 FLYWEIGHT FIGHTS ON FACEBOOK/YOUTUBE
2013:
6 FLYWEIGHT FIGHTS ON MAIN CARDS
6 FLYWEIGHT FIGHTS ON PRELIMS
5 FLYWEIGHT FIGHTS ON FACEBOOK/YOUTUBE
2014:
13 FLYWEIGHT FIGHTS ON MAIN CARDS
12 FLYWEIGHT FIGHTS ON PRELIMS
8 FLYWEIGHT FIGHTS ON FIGHT PASS
2015:
11 FLYWEIGHT FIGHTS ON MAIN CARDS
10 FLYWEIGHT FIGHTS ON PRELIMS
13 FLYWEIGHT FIGHTS ON FIGHT PASS
2016:
8 FLYWEIGHT FIGHTS ON MAIN CARDS
6 FLYWEIGHT FIGHTS ON PRELIMS
7 FLYWEIGHT FIGHTS ON FIGHT PASS
2017:
8 FLYWEIGHT FIGHTS ON MAIN CARDS
8 FLYWEIGHT FIGHTS ON PRELIMS
10 FLYWEIGHT FIGHTS ON FIGHT PASS
2018*:
2 FLYWEIGHT FIGHTS ON MAIN CARDS
7 FLYWEIGHT FIGHTS ON PRELIMS
11 FLYWEIGHT FIGHTS ON FIGHT PASS
*Obviously, the year is not yet over, but I did take this Saturday’s Flyweight bouts into account and included them based on are placed at UFC Denver.
Fast-forward to Johnson’s next title defense, against +400 underdog Henry Cejudo, who had challenged Mighty Mouse for the flyweight gold just two years prior and been unsuccessful – getting TKO’d in the very first round no less – and the division gets flipped on its head when Cejudo shocks the world and dethrones Mighty Mouse via split decision. Cejudo then called out TJ Dillashaw immediately (who is now the UFC Bantamweight Champion) for a title v title superfight at 135lbs, and with the direction in which everything was heading prior to a new champion being crowned, it felt like the future of flyweight was as grim as ever.
After the trade, then – sending Mighty Mouse to ONE Championship in Singapore for undefeated veteran Ben Askren in the UFC – things looked even grimmer, and there was a small, naive part of me that replayed a quote from ‘The Dark Knight’ in my head…“The night is always darkest just before the dawn.”
I thought, “Maybe they could turn this thing around! Maybe this past year was one step backwards to set up for a two-steps-forward next year!”, and started brainstorming how they could spark life into the now faceless division with a tournament – similar to the Bellator Heavyweight/Welterweight Grand Prix, or PFL’s tourneys, or even the RIZIN one for Flyweights they just announced! They’re all the rage right now because they’re incredibly easy to follow, you know there ain’t gonna be any funny business as far as who “deserves” what, and fans seem to be taking to fighters who they typically didn’t…JUST because of their inclusion to these tournaments! It sounds crazy, but I think it’s just more attractive to an MMA fan to get behind a fighter climbing the ranks of a tournament than it is watching them climb the “rankings” right now.
Unfortunately, all that brainstorming proved to be time wasted after the news of the UFC officially dissolving the 125lb division broke on Tuesday, and was confirmed by former UFC Flyweight Jose “Shorty” Torres, the first name to be cut from the roster.
If you’ve been reading my blogs over the past two years, you know I’ve been a pretty hardcore supporter of the UFC’s flyweight division since long before I started writing for Barstool. I’ve found the division to be one of the most entertaining and intriguing the company had to offer from its very inception, largely in-part to the man I’ve spoken about the most in this blog: Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson. His reign at the top – and win streak – was unlike anything else I’ve ever seen in all my years of watching the sport, and probably unlike anything else I ever will see watching the sport. It wasn’t like Ronda Rousey’s – not at all. Not like Anderson Silva’s, either. I wouldn’t even tell you it was like Joanna Jedrzejczyk’s, though she is a much better comparison than the other two.
Mighty Mouse, when holding the UFC Flyweight Championship, was an exemplification of excellence at the highest level we have ever seen it at in mixed martial arts. He wasn’t knocking everybody out – he rarely displayed the power to. He definitely wasn’t facing light competition – flyweight, despite what its naysayers will tell you, is one of the most stacked divisions in the company, and that was especially true a year or two ago. Just ask oddsmakers. He was just fucking excellent…at everything. And Mighty Mouse being THAT good for THAT long created a plethora of storylines throughout the weight class. I mean, Henry Cejudo – an OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST – was rushed into a championship opportunity a bit too early into his mixed martial arts career, and got TKO’d by Johnson in like two minutes back in 2016. He then told the media he knew it sounded crazy, but that he’d still be the first man to beat DJ, and two years later, he fucking did it.
Now, he reigns king of the jungle among a division that was just shaken up tremendously, like it was Boggle or some shit. Remember Boggle?
Teen.
Soil.
Nail.
Tail.
I feel like I just read off the trailer for a goddamn action movie when speaking about the post-Mighty Mouse 125lb division, but I can’t convince the company to market the division if they don’t want to, and this seems to be a done deal, so my pitch ain’t convincin’ anyone of anything. You see where I’m coming from, though, right?
You see how being told that the flyweight division is going away because they weren’t marketable and didn’t draw well is frustrating, right? When they were given TWO opportunities to shine on main cards in 2018, and one of those fights is already considered the greatest fight in the division’s history by many? And it received the Fight of the Night bonus? When the ratings on the flyweight season of The Ultimate Fighter not even two years ago outdrew the most recent THREE seasons of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF 24 averaged 342k viewers vs TUF 26’s 233k, TUF 27’s 214k, and the current TUF 28)? And it’s finale, main and co-main evented by flyweight bouts, DESTROYED most TUF Finales in recent years in the ratings?
Info courtesy of Jed I. Goodman (@jedigoodman)
Unfortunately, though, like I said – this is a done deal, and none of that seems to matter.
My heart breaks for the fighters who will be out of jobs because of this decision, unable to make a living for their families (if they were even able to to begin with, with what the UFC is paying some of these guys). Hopefully the division is bought, or at the very least, mostly re-signed by ONE, RIZIN, maybe the PFL…I can’t see Bellator getting involved but as we’ve seen…crazier things have happened.
Conor McGregor doesn’t seem too happy about the whole ordeal, and has blamed it on the Founder/CEO/President of ONE Championship, Chatri Sityodtong. In a tweet earlier today, McGregor urged ONE’s Dana White to pick up each and every fighter cut by the UFC.
It would be very smart for ONE to pick up as many flyweights as they possibly could, basically reforming the division as it is now/was a few months ago, allowing for Demetrious Johnson to face some legitimate competition, and I don’t think we as fans should expect any less after seeing the steps ONE is taking to have a massive 2019, including instating former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Miesha Tate as their Vice President.
So yeah, that’s sorta how this all came to be, to make a long story short.