UFC women’s featherweight division will ‘probably’ close after UFC 289
The UFC may be down a weight class after UFC 289. In the aftermath of the event, the UFC women’s featherweight champion Amanda Nunes retired from MMA leaving the championship vacant.
At the UFC 289 post-fight press conference, Dana White acknowledged that the end of the division could be near.
“The answer is probably yes,” White said at the post-fight conference when asked if the division could be closed. “I don’t make these decisions right after a fight. She told me when she walked over to the side of the cage that she was retiring. I don’t know, but it makes sense.”
The UFC women’s featherweight division has been declining in quality and quantity over the past handful of years. This decline became fairly noticeable in 2019 when the organization cut former champion Cris Cyborg.
Since 2019, several featherweights have made the move down to bantamweight. Additionally, the division has generally seen more fighters go out than come in; the division has also failed to add notable talent alongside Nunes.
At this point, according to the UFC’s website, the division only has nine active fighters. Furthermore, the majority of those fighters are ranked at bantamweight or have fought at bantamweight in the past. That limited quantity has led to the UFC not having rankings for the division.
Nunes has not defended the UFC featherweight championship since 2021. Since then, there has not been a single fighter that presented Nunes with a compelling challenge. In fairness, similar comments could be made about the bantamweight division.
With two divisions up in the air, the UFC has a lot of decisions to make. It looks like the women’s featherweight division may be tossed to the side while the organization opts to invest in the women’s bantamweight division.
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