UFC to have flyweight division in March
Date: 2011-12-11 00:00:00
Source: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/mma/post/2011-12-11...
Submitted By: MMAFightsDump
TORONTO -- The Ultimate Fighting Championship has scheduled a date in the first quarter of next year for its inaugural 125-pound bouts. Demetrious Johnson vs. Ian McCall and Joseph Benavidez vs. Yasuhiro Urushitani will square off March 3 on a pay-per-view card, UFC President Dana White announced Saturday during the post-fight press conference for UFC 140 in Toronto. The winners of those fights will meet in a later bout to determine UFC's first flyweight champion. CAPTIONBy James Lang for USA TODAY UFC parent Zuffa has been thinking about flyweights for at least two years. There are several accomplished 125-pound fighters around the world, but finding spots for the division has been difficult on a schedule already crowded with seven weight classes. A number of athletes competing as 135-pounder in Zuffa can make the 125-pound division, including Benavidez and Johnson, both of whom fought for titles as bantamweights. McCall previously fought for Zuffa's now-defunct World Extreme Cagefighting brand before going to Tachi Palace Fights, for whom he won a flyweight belt in August. While Johnson's bantamweight career in UFC has been mostly successful, he has been expressed a willingness to compete at both 125 and 135. "It's definitely an interest," Johnson told USA TODAY earlier this year. "I can fight 135 and 125 at the same time. If I can fight 135 this month and 125 (another) month, and just jump around and do a bunch of fights, I would love to do that. That means more money for me and more exposure and more fights for me." John Dodson, who just won the bantamweight contract for Season 14 of The Ultimate Fighter, was a 125-pound champion in the Ultimate Warrior Challenge promotion. Another TUF 14 finalist, Louis Gaudinot, held the equivalent title for Ring of Combat. Several well-regarded flyweights are based in Japan. Urushitani, No. 3 in MMARising.com's 125-pound rankings, won Shooto's 123-pound title last year. White declined to identify the site of the March 3 show.
