Heading into 2019, we all guessed there was a fantastic chance the UFC flyweight division was on its last legs. However, when Henry Cejudo knocked out TJ Dillashaw in the first round of their bout at UFC Fight Night 143, we thought there was a chance the branch could be spared, particularly since the UFC declared a couple of other battles at 125lbs for other occasions.
It looks like that might not be the case, since the promotion has allegedly released several other flyweights.
In accordance with Cejudo, who spoke to the press last weekend at UFC Fight Night 144, the UFC has launched top-ranked flyweights Dustin Ortiz and Matheus Nicolau. Additionally, John Moraga was removed from the UFC’s official rankings, suggesting he too has been published. The UFC has not yet commented if these fighters have indeed officially been published, but normally it is around the fighters to inform the media and fans when that happens. Virtually anytime someone was removed in the rankings for unknown reasons, though, it’s generally because the UFC released them.
Even though the UFC flyweight division is obviously on its way out, the decision to cut a quality fighter like Ortiz is utterly shocking, and dare I say, dumb. Ortiz is coming off of a competitive unanimous decision loss to Joseph Benavidez at UFC Fight Night 143 that was clearly one of the better fights on that card. There is a chance Benavidez gets the next crack at Cejudo’s belt, meaning that the UFC just cut Ortiz coming from a title eliminator. And before the Benavidez struggle, Ortiz had won three consecutive fights, such as a head kick knockout within the above Nicolau, a decision win over Alexandre Pantoja — a gifted flyweight who it appears has been spared from the cuts so much — and also a 15-second KO over Hector Sandoval that was the fastest knockout in UFC flyweight history. If anything, the UFC should have advised Ortiz to move around bantamweight, which Alex Perez seemingly will do (along with fighters such as Said Nurmagomedov). Releasing such a talented and improved fighter like Ortiz outright just looks absurd.
In terms of Nicolau, he’d won all three of his fights in the Octagon before dropping to Ortiz, and even though he didn’t seem to be a title contender, he still provided valuable depth at 125lbs. He also holds a notable win over Moraga, who it appears has also got the boot. That’s another cut that shocks me. Moraga was actually one of the first flyweights the UFC signed back in 2012, and even though he had an up-and-down UFC career, he was considered to be a good gatekeeper and the ideal test for up-and-comers to shoot on. In his last battle, he was knocked out by Deiveson Figueiredo, who seems to be one of the few flyweights the UFC still has on the roster. There is no reason Moraga could not have stuck around and continued to act in a gatekeeper role. It simply seems too harsh to cut a man who was one of the few fighters with finishing possible in a division that normally sees fights move the distance.
At this point, it’s very bizarre what the UFC is performing with the flyweights. If you inquire UFC president Dana White, he states the advertising has not made a decision on the branch, but it feels like every day we are seeing a flyweight get cut, and then another day we see a flyweight battle reserved. It would be nice if the UFC will make up its own mind and cut all of the flyweights or keep a complete branch, because right now the fighters have no idea what kind of job security they have moving forward, and that’s not fair to anyone.
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