It's late October of 2018, and UFC president Dana White is about to make a move in the flyweight division that he'd been thinking about for years. Champion Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson, the promotion's first 125-pound champion and winner of 11 title bouts, is set to be moved to ONE Championship. White, a longtime derider of Johnson and the flyweight division had clearly decided that the champion's dominance was too boring to be good for business. It was one of many indications, both explicit and implicit, of how the promotion viewed its smallest weight class.
Men's flyweight was always seen as the black sheep of the UFC, partially because of an initially shallow, and overall poor, talent pool. Johnson's greatness was often the lone bright spot of a division where a couple of wins in a row usually meant a chance at gold, regardless of the quality of those wins. The fighting style of most of the weight class didn't endear fans, as knockouts were few and far between in a division that prioritized technique and speed.
The apathy towards flyweight continued (and continues) long after Johnson's release from the UFC. Out of all of the promotion's pay-per-view events, only seven have been headlined by a flyweight title fight. Four of those included Johnson, and another was an event that saw three title fights canceled before Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno stepped in to save the card. Most recently, current titleholder Alexandre Pantoja headlined UFC 301 against Steve Erceg, who was ranked tenth in the division at the time. Pantoja's card did not feature a single other fighter ranked inside the top ten in any division.
One would think that the lesser status of flyweight fights is indicative of a lack of talent within the division, but that's simply no longer true. There are plenty of exciting fighters, even some fan favorites, within the division. What stands out more than the perceived lack of talent is the lack of desire to retain flyweight talent by the UFC. Muhammad Mokaev of course comes to mind. After a perfect 7-0 run in the promotion, he was informed that he would not receive another contract offer. Regardless of the reasoning behind that decision, it's a move that is unprecedented in any other division. David Dvorak, a ranked flyweight who hadn't fought in just over a year because of injury, was cut because of his inactivity. Just before Dvorak was cut, Nate Maness, a 5-2 flyweight with three Performance of the Night bonuses to his name, was informed that he would not receive an offer to extend his contract with the UFC. The promotion can make any excuse it wants for letting go of top-tier talent, but the truth of the matter is clear: the UFC has priorities elsewhere, and it is willing to sacrifice tremendous talent in the flyweight division in pursuit of lesser talent elsewhere.
And then, of course, there is the case of Demetrious Johnson. Johnson won eleven title fights, the third most of all time behind only Jon Jones and Georges St. Pierre, and he was shipped to another promotion. The former flyweight king and Jones were similar not only in their dominance but in how that dominance was looked at by fight fans everywhere. Jones received similar criticism to Johnson throughout his seemingly invincible stretch of title defenses at light heavyweight, shown by middling pay-per-view numbers in cards he headlined. From the available PPV sales numbers, it seems that his best event was UFC 214, which made 860,000 sales. That number places it around the 30th-best-selling event in UFC history, likely even lower because recent PPV numbers aren't accessible. The problem was simple: Jones was too good, so good that the outcome of the fight often felt predetermined, the same feeling that Johnson created in his audiences. Despite that, (and a host of personal problems that Johnson didn't have) Jones is enjoying a long career in the UFC, complete with compliments from the boss and hand-picked favorable matchups.
Years of outright hostility and neglect have prevented the flyweight division from becoming one of the most talent-laden weight classes in the UFC. Despite that fact, there is a path for turning it into one of the most entertaining divisions in the UFC. The talent pool is deep, certainly deeper than heavyweight, and mostly fun to watch. There's a crop of up-and-coming fighters who are on the brink of bringing life to the rankings. Matchmaking these guys correctly could lead to a resurgence of the division and a boost in viewership across the UFC.
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