Current Bellator expert and former UFC lightweight contender Josh Thomson say various UFC officials have revealed to him the eventual fate of the UFC flyweight division. The departure of long-ruling champion Demetrious Johnson and the sudden firings of flyweights like Jose “Shorty” Torres implies that the UFC is finished with the not-so-popular weight class. The flyweights regularly conveyed high-octane activity, however for some reason neglected enough to get on with a bigger crowd.
Thomson uncovered Saturday on Twitter that UFC will, in fact, close down the flyweight division yet will present a 165-pound weight class in its place. Fans, fighters, and individuals from the media have been rallying for a 165-pound weight class as far back as Nate Diaz and Dustin Poirier pitched the in front of their co-headliner event slot at UFC 230.
“125 weight class is done after T.J. Dillashaw vs. Henry Cejudo from all the UFC executives I’ve talked to,” Thomson wrote. “165lb weight class is replacing it.”
His tweet was an answer to writer Evan Shoman who argued that RDA is too small for welterweight and too big for a lightweight after his one-sided defeat to Kamaru Usman at The Ultimate Fighter 29 Finale.
125 weight class is done after @TJDillashaw VS @HenryCejudo from all the @ufc executives I've talk to. 165lb weight class is replacing it https://t.co/TtloqSgvng
— Josh Thomson (@THEREALPUNK) December 1, 2018
This means that the 165-pound division is coming and the 170-pound division may move up to 175 pounds.