UFC Vegas 72 marks 100 straight events without a main event from one male division
This weekend’s UFC Fight Night event features a headline bout pitting bantamweight stars Song Yadong and Ricky Simon against one another.
The fight is the latest thrown together main event from the UFC, who were forced to scramble after the event lost its initially-booked headliner of Arman Tsarukyan vs. Renato Moicano.
Interestingly, though, Twitter user @AndyHickeyMMA, who is a self-proclaimed Irish MMA fanatic, has pointed out a wild fact about this weekend’s event.
“Insane stat! This weekends UFC card marks 100 straight events without a male Flyweight main event. The agenda against the weight is clear!”
Insane stat!
This weekends UFC card marks 100 straight events without a male Flyweight main event.
The agenda against the weight is clear! https://t.co/4DwBs60sNA
The Twitter user went onto show a graphic detailing the number of main events by division across the last 100 events, dating back to December 2020.
The graphic shows that while there have been 17 heavyweight main events, and Song vs. Simon will be the 10th bantamweight headliner, there have indeed been no male flyweight main events.
https://t.co/rjycG80js8
The last event to feature a male flyweight main event was UFC 256, which saw then-champ Deiveson Figueiredo face off with Brandon Moreno for the first time.
The bout famously went to a majority draw, and sparked a rivalry between the two that lasted four fights and ended with Moreno claiming the gold earlier this year.
IT'S ALL OVER! The doctor has called a stop between rounds due to a Figueiredo eye injury
Brandon leaves #UFC283 with a TKO victory and the title! https://t.co/cFiHnPx5Hg
None of those fights were positioned in the main event, though, and Moreno’s next title defense, which will come against top contender Alexandre Pantoja, is positioned as the co-headliner of UFC 290 on July 8.
Does the UFC really have an agenda against the male flyweight division?
Suggestions that the UFC has an agenda against the male flyweight division date back to 2017.
It was claimed by then-champion Demetrious Johnson that Dana White had threatened to shut the division down if he didn’t accept a superfight with TJ Dillashaw.
“(Dana) went on further to say that if I didn’t take the fight against TJ, and drop (Ray) Borg as the opponent, he would get rid of the entire flyweight division.”
Johnson lost his title to Henry Cejudo in 2018, but the issue reared its head again when Dillashaw, who held the bantamweight title at the time, was positioned as the new champion’s first challenger.
Dillashaw went on record to claim that the promotion had paid him to “kill the 125lbs division” although this was never corroborated by White.
“They’re paying me a (expletive) load of money to move down and kill the 125lbs division and collect a second belt. So, it’s game time.”
.@HenryCejudo said his upcoming fight against T.J. Dillashaw has become personal: "This is dude is a guy that was trying to start the union. Now he's getting paid a sh*t load of money to get rid of the [flyweight] division."
Watch full press conference: mmafighting.com/2019/1/17/1818… https://t.co/liSKDmHmAT
Cejudo managed to defeat Dillashaw to retain the title, though, and then relinquished it shortly after, with Figueiredo and now Moreno holding it since.
Despite its arguably questionable treatment of the division, the promotion currently lists over 40 flyweights as part of its roster – suggesting there are no plans to get rid of it.