VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The UFC's fighters will be getting even smaller.
UFC president Dana White today confirmed that the organization is moving forward on its plan to add a 125-pound flyweight division to its existing seven weight classes.
White said it could come "like, really soon," possibly by year's end.
White and other officials have hinted at the weight class over the past few years, first with the since-folded WEC and then with the UFC. Talk of the division really heated up in 2010, when the UFC adopted the WEC's featherweight (145-pound) and bantamweight (135-pound) divisions, but fizzled until recently.
While the organization already has been talking to flyweight fighters about contracts, White said it'll take time to truly build the division and crown a champion.
"We have to get out there; we have to create the division," he told MMAjunkie.com (
www.mmajunkie.com) at today's pre-UFC 131 press conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. "We bring the guys in, sign them and start putting on fights. You figure out who the best is, and you have a title fight."
In fact, while the executive traditionally shies away from tournaments, he said a grand-prix format could be used to determine the UFC's first-ever flyweight champion.
"Maybe," he said. "There's a lot of options we could do."
Currently, a host of Japanese organizations and the California-based Tachi Palace Fights have had a stronghold on the world's top 125-pounders. But with the UFC offering unrivaled paydays and exposure, many of those fighters certainly could be wooed to the octagon.
Additionally, some of the sport's top flyweights could come from the existing UFC roster. While they've discussed their satisfaction with fighting at bantamweight, smaller 135-pounders such as Joseph Benavidez and Demetrious Johnson could make for intriguing options for the new weight class.
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