Dana White updates on status of the UFC flyweight division

There’s recently been reason to believe that the end is near for the UFC flyweight division. First, the promotion traded the former flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson to ONE Championship in exchange for Ben Askren. Then, it cut ties with a number of talented flyweight fighters — some of whom claimed to have heard that the division is being decommissioned. UFC President Dana White, however, has remained fairly tight-lipped about the division’s future.

Speaking on the latest episode of the UFC Unfiltered podcast, Dana White shared his latest update on the division — though it didn’t exactly clear things up.

He reminded that there are currently flyweight fights on the UFC schedule, including a title fight between divisional champ Henry Cejudo and bantamweight champ TJ Dillashaw. White also dismissed the recent comments of Dillashaw, who claimed he’s being paid big bucks to put an end to the flyweight division.

“TJ Dillashaw didn’t do shit to the flyweight division,” Dana White said (transcript via MMA Fighting). “The flyweight division just never took off, it never caught on. Even with a dominant champion like Demetrious, it just never caught on. People didn’t care. I battled for a long time, I tried to keep it alive and obviously, it’s still going on now. We still have fights going on in that division, but we’ll see what the future holds for it.”

If the UFC does close its flyweight division, it sounds as though some flyweights will be given the opportunity to move up to the bantamweight division, while others will simply have their contracts torn up and be sent packing. The good news is that these ostracized flyweights would seem to have other options, as ONE Championship and a number of other promotions have opened their proverbial doors.

What do you think of these comments from Dana White? What do you think the future holds for the UFC flyweight division?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 11/27/2018.