Dana White: Flyweight Division Isn't Likely Until Early 2012

[WrestlingSmarks News]

The possible formation of a UFC flyweight division has been a hot topic as of late. A couple of months ago Dana White went on record saying that they were going to go forward with the creation of the division, and they were already looking at signing talent. After watching the Tachi Palace Fights 10 card last weekend (or trying to anyway - the stream dropped more than the Dow Jones has lately), it became readily apparently that these guys could be very popular in the UFC. But, not so fast. Dana spoke to MMA Weekly about the issue, and he trampled the optimism a bit:

"Hopefully, early next year," White told MMAWeekly about the new division coming to the UFC.

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He was willing to talk about it though, which is better than nothing. Does he think some bantamweights will drop down to 125 once the division is in place?

"Yeah probably, that happens every time we open up a new weight division," White commented about fighters dropping weight. "Kenny Florian fought at 185 the first season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter,’ so yeah, you’ll see guys move down I think. You might even see guys who are world champions like Frankie Edgar move to ’45. It makes sense, not saying he is, but it would make sense."

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You might not know names like Ian McCall, Jussier da Silva, Mamoru Yamaguchi, Darrell Montague or Ulysses Gomez yet, but hopefully you will soon. And if guys like Demetrious Johnson, Joseph Benavidez and Charlie Valencia join them along with guys like Henry Cejudo eventually, you've got yourself a very talented foundation to build with. Hopefully we see it in the near future.