According to former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson, Dana White had threatened to “get rid of the entire 125-pound division,” mainly due to what the company felt as a severe lack of marketability. Apparently, these threats may just be turned into a reality.
But for current titleholder Henry Cejudo, the repercussions from such a move may not be so bad for him, especially since it likely paves the way for the talked about fight against bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw.
“I think more likely that T.J. fight might happen,” Cejudo said on the recent episode of the JRE MMA Show (transcript via MMA Fighting). “That T.J. fight might happen if they’re going to be done with the flyweight division. I think that cat’s out of the bag and Dana had mentioned that to me.
“He said, ‘Hey Cejudo, we’re going to take you up on that challenge for you to go up against T.J., but this is what the company has been thinking about for while.’”
For his part, Dillashaw is also keen on dropping down to 125 pounds and possibly secure a second world title. Cejudo says he fancies either one of the two opportunities.
“I like both ideas. I kind of left it off to him. I said, ‘I don’t know but I want to fight you.’ I want to fight T.J. and I want to go after the next best thing, and I think that’s him.
“Let’s do it at ‘25 or let’s do it at ‘35, but let’s fight, man,” he added. “I believe T.J. wants to fight me too.”
Cejudo and Dillashaw both fought at UFC 227 last August. The former went on to win the title via a unanimous decision verdict, while the latter defeated Cody Garbrandt in a rematch via first-round TKO.