Heading into 2019, we all figured there was a good possibility the UFC flyweight division was on its last legs. However, when Henry Cejudo knocked out TJ Dillashaw at the first round of their bout at UFC Fight Night 143, we believed there was a chance the branch could be spared, especially since the UFC announced a few different fights at 125lbs for other occasions.
It seems like that may not be the case, since the promotion has reportedly released several different flyweights.
According to Cejudo, who talked to the media this past weekend in UFC Fight Night 144, the UFC has launched top-ranked flyweights Dustin Ortiz and Matheus Nicolau. Additionally, John Moraga was removed from the UFC’s official positions, indicating he too was published. The UFC hasn’t yet commented if these fighters have indeed officially been published, but normally it is up to the fighters to tell the media and fans when that happens. Almost anytime somebody was removed in the rankings for unknown reasons, however, it’s generally because the UFC released them.
Even though the UFC flyweight division is obviously on its way out, the choice to cut a quality fighter like Ortiz is downright shocking, and dare I say, dumb. Ortiz is coming off of a competitive unanimous decision loss to Joseph Benavidez at UFC Fight Night 143 which was clearly one of the better fights on this card. There is an opportunity Benavidez understands another crack at Cejudo’s belt, meaning the UFC simply cut Ortiz coming from a title eliminator. And prior to the Benavidez struggle, Ortiz had won three straight fights, such as a head kick knockout within the aforementioned Nicolau, a decision win over Alexandre Pantoja — a gifted flyweight who it seems was spared from the cuts so far — along with also a 15-second KO over Hector Sandoval that was the fastest knockout in UFC flyweight history. If anything, the UFC should have advised Ortiz to move around bantamweight, which Alex Perez apparently will do (in addition to fighters like Said Nurmagomedov). Releasing such a talented and improved fighter like Ortiz outright just looks silly.
As for Nicolau, he had won three of his battles from the Octagon before losing to Ortiz, and although he did not seem to be a title contender, he provided valuable thickness at 125lbs. He also holds a notable win over Moraga, who it appears has also got the boot. That. Moraga was really one of the initial flyweights the UFC signed back in 2012, and even though he had an up-and-down UFC profession, he was still considered to be a good gatekeeper and the ideal test for up-and-comers to shoot on. In his last fight, he was knocked out by Deiveson Figueiredo, who appears to be one of the couple flyweights the UFC still has on the roster. There is no reason Moraga could not have stuck around and continued to behave in a gatekeeper role. It simply seems too harsh to reduce a man who was among the few fighters with completing possible in a branch that normally sees struggles go the distance.
Now, it is very bizarre what the UFC is performing together with the flyweights. If you ask UFC president Dana White, he states the advertising has not made a determination on the division, but it seems like every day we’re seeing a flyweight get cut, then the next day we see that a flyweight battle booked. It would be nice if the UFC will make up its mind and cut all of the flyweights or maintain a complete branch, since right now the fighters have no clue what type of job security they have going ahead, and that is not fair to anybody.
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