Demetrious Johnson ‘s biggest failure as a bantamweight is that he isn’t a bantamweight. He put on a spirited performance against bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz last night, but the size difference between the two became more and more apparent as the fight dragged on.
Fortunately for “Mighty Mouse,” it looks like he’ll be in his natural weight class soon enough. MMA Junkie reports:
Regardless, [UFC President Dana] White said the flyweight division should be added by early next year. And though White and UFC matchmakers Joe Silva and Sean Shelby will comb the world for top-level talent, he said some of it may already be under contract, either as existing bantamweights or contestants on the current 14th season of “The Ultimate Fighter.”
“We’re going to go out and start [signing] guys and bringing in guys we want to sign, and we’ll kick that thing off,” White said. “I don’t [know] exactly how we’re going to do it yet, but we’re going to do it, and we’re going to do it soon.
“You’ll see guys from from 135 (come down) to 125. Lots of guys will drop. There are lots of guys on ‘TUF’ who can drop to 125.”
We’ve seen an exodus of talent from the lightweight division when Zuffa assimilated WEC into the UFC. That talent includes Kenny Florian, who had a 9-3 record at lightweight in the UFC. Florian will fight featherweight champion Jose Aldo this Saturday at UFC 136.
Fighters like Johnson and Joseph Benavidez are likely to move down to flyweight when it’s made available.
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