Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White still won’t come out and confirm whether or not the Flyweight division will go on beyond UFC 233, which is when Henry Cejudo will defend the 125-pound title against T.J. Dillashaw on January 26, 2019.
This despite the fact that several 125-pounders have been let go by the promotion and have been informed by their managers that UFC will in fact dissolve the weight class in the coming months. Plus, Dillashaw proclaimed UFC hired him to “kill the division” once and for all next year.
Still, White won’t commit to the move just yet, but did say that despite his numerous efforts to get the division to take off, it simply never did. Even with the most dominant champion in the promotion’s history at the helm.
“T.J. Dillashaw didn’t do sh-t to the flyweight division,” White said on the UFC Unfiltered podcast (via MMA Fighting). “The flyweight division just never took off, it never caught on. Even with a dominant champion like Demetrious, 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, but we’ll see what the future holds for it.”
“Mighty Mouse” has since taken his talents overseas to ONE FC, while UFC was able to nab Ben Askren in exchange.
To Dana’s point, the 125-pound weight class never really seemed like a fan-favorite despite staging memorable bouts, many of which were spearheaded by Johnson. As for the rest of the division, while talented, no one could ever really step out of Demetrious’s shadow until Cejudo finally emerged on his second attempt.
But, it seems some select Flyweights — not him — will get the chance to prove themselves at Bantamweight. Unless, of course, Dana White and Co. have a change a heart after the dust settles at UFC 233.