Just Create a UFC Women’s Featherweight Division Already

Another night, another fighter terminated by Cris Cyborg. And so it goes…

It’s pretty much what we’ve come to expect out of her. Ever since she was first thrust into the public eye in 2009 when she grounded Gina Carano into a fine paste, one which sells for a nice sum in Hollywood these days, Cris “Cyborg” Justino has destroyed opponents.

In every promotion she has competed in these last 7 years — Strikeforce, Invicta, and now the UFC — she has served to punish other women for even entertaining the thought that an MMA fight with The Baddest Woman on the Planet would be a good idea (kickboxing, however, is a different story…).

There are various reasons that can be given why Cyborg has had such a violent way with her opponents, like she did with Lina Lansberg in Brazil this past Saturday night, the main reason being that the weight class Cyborg normally competes at, 145 pounds, is a very thin one and offers no competition.

Women’s featherweight is certainly an outlier weight class, one that few female fighters compete in because most female fighters more comfortably fall into the 115, 125, and 135 pound divisions. UFC currently has two of those women’s weight classes, and Dana White has said that, while there are no immediate plans to add any new women’s divisions, if they were to add one more, it would be the 125 division, allowing women who feel too small for 135 but who can’t make the cut to 115 a place where they can compete to their optimal ability, where they can cut just the right amount of weight to give themselves the illusion of a size and power advantage that fighters worry so much about at the expense of their own health and well-being.

Just hang on, Barb Honchak. Your time will come. Maybe. I mean, it might if you want it. It’s up to you. No pressure. Just hope that UFC knows how to use a phone better than Invicta does.

But the thing about a women’s’ 125 pound weight class right now is, since one has never been established in a major promotion before, there aren’t any ready made stars to lead the division and get people to pay attention to it. The whole reason UFC brought women into the UFC was to promote Ronda Rousey. They brought in women’s strawweight because they saw potential in girls like Paige VanZant and Rose Namajunas.

Sure, both weight classes also had some other talented fighters but the business rationale to UFC creating these new divisions wasn’t just to introduce a new division. It was to introduce a few specific fighters they were excited to cash in on…….and everyone else.

So, it’s in that line of thinking that I implore UFC to do the following:

Just add women’s 145. Seriously, UFC, just do it already.

There are lots of pros and cons that can be presented and considered for why it isn’t a good idea to introduce a UFC Women’s Featherweight division but there’s only one rationale the UFC needs to consider, one that should tell them that, at least in the short term, this makes all the sense in the world:

Cris “Cyborg” is a beast.

Ever since the UFC first brought the ladies to the big show in 2012, the entire MMA community has been dying to see Cyborg join those same ranks. For the longest time, the reason was to see Cyborg, one of the most dominant fighters ever, compete against Rousey, who, at the time, was also one of the most dominant fighters ever.

It was a fight that fans and media alike have salivated over for years but it’s failed to materialize because, while Rousey was champion, and while the heaviest weight class for women in the UFC was 135 pounds, the onus was always on Cyborg to drop down and, while it does seem like it should be possible for her to do it, and she has teased trying it many a time, she has never made a serious attempt to do so, which she shouldn’t have to. If she doesn’t want to lose a lot of muscle and torture herself to compete at a weight she’d be completely drained and fight poorly at, that is perfectly fine. She doesn’t have to.

I mean, she won’t be getting the real money fights if she doesn’t cut down but, if she feels she can’t, if she feels the money isn’t worth it, then good on her.

And the 2016 UFC agrees with that, considering that, after paying Cyborg to fight in Invicta for 2 years, they finally decided they wanted a direct return on their investment, booking her to fight at UFC 198 last May and then having her headline in Brasilia on Saturday night. That says that UFC thinks quite a lot about a fighter without a weight class, competing in catchweights because they see the value in promoting her, especially in Brazil, but they haven’t been willing to fully accommodate her by adding the division she is most comfortable competing at.

So, why is UFC trying to have it both ways like this? Why are they willing to use Cyborg but not willing to use her in a way that she can be at her best? What’s even the long-term plan for Cyborg in the UFC? Do they have any sort of long-term plan? Are they just going to keep booking her in random, meaningless catchweight fights (or attempt to, as Cyborg as already said she doesn’t want to cut to 140 again), either bringing in random women from other promotions to feed the beast or expecting bantamweights to be willing to go up to challenge themselves against one of the most feared fighters in the sport?

My question to the way UFC is handling Cyborg right now is why? Why make things as confusing and as pointless as they are?

Is there concern about the depth of a women’s featherweight division and the fact that the weight class has only one legitimate star? Absolutely, but you know what could help fix that problem over time? Having the industry leader tell female fighters that there is a path to success and glory at 145.

It’ll take a while to build up a women’s featherweight division, just like it’s been taking time to build up bantamweight and strawweight, but, if UFC commits to it, and if UFC were to actually put promotional dollars behind it, even though they’ve historically been uninterested in putting money behind anyone other than the upper 1% of their talent, it can be done.

I mean, again, they only brought in the bantamweight division to promote Ronda Rousey. It helped that there were other talented fighters in the division, although no one considered to be on Rousey’s level (at least at first), but it was pretty much the Ronda Rousey Show. In many ways, it still is.

Hey guys, did you hear UFC offered Ronda a contract to fight for the title at UFC 207, despite still coming off a vicious loss and a year where she’s done everything except focus on MMA?

If UFC is willing to book that fight, there’s no reason why they can’t start booking Cyborg in featherweight fights.

Seriously, this whole concern over depth in the division is one only harcore fans care about. Casuals are not going to care that there’s probably going to be no credible opponents for Cyborg at 145 (unless UFC pays Miesha Tate or Holly Holm to step up).

Cyborg’s entire career has been built on destroying women. She’s made a lot of money doing that. She’s made a lot of fans doing that. It’d almost be considered a disappointment at this point to not see her smash someone.

Yes, ideally, the UFC should be focused on integrity and logical matchmaking and should only promote Cyborg if they can find her real competition, but who knows if that’s ever going to be a realistic goal over time. I just want to see Cyborg compete at her best, at a weight where she’s not killing herself and feels she can perform to her greatest potential. That’s what we should all want to see, right? Great fighters at their greatest?

The fighter’s health and safety should be paramount to anything else, right? We need to care for Cyborg’s health, so she can have lots of little Cyborgs, as terrifying as they will be.

Also, are you guys still decrying the decaying integrity of MMA, which barely existed to begin with? In 2016? Have you seen who’s fought in a UFC cage this year?

Exactly. Get over it and let’s get on with it, UFC. The women’s featherweight gods need another sacrifice to be made and soon. Don’t leave them hungry.

Evan Zivin has been writing for 411 MMA since May of 2013. Evan loves the sport, and likes to takes a lighthearted look at the world of MMA in his writing…usually.