Three belts spread out over two divisions? Well, you’d not be blamed for thinking I’m about to decry the crowning of yet another interim champion in the UFC – it’s not exactly uncommon these days. But actually, I am about to throw my hands in the air (wave them around like you just totally despair) about the two (and a bit) women’s divisions.
The two don’t really need much explanation; Joanna sits atop the strawweight division, relatively untroubled by any contenders, whilst Amanda has surely earned herself a few days in the sun over in the bantamweight gang.
No, it’s the bit extra that has left me quizzical. I guess they’re calling it the women’s featherweight division, but how many fighters do you need to make a division these days? Call me old fashioned, but I feel it should be more than two.
The post-fight victory speech call outs aren’t going to have us on the edge of our seats: “Uh, I guess that lady over there again?”
Of course the call out that we’re all waiting for here is the elusive Cyborg, but would it do any good? The fact that a featherweight division is even being entertained is because of Cyborg, and yet – potential drug offences aside for a sec – she is notable by her absence. She’s not even listed on the UFC fighter roster, she’s not formally contracted; she just floats in the catchweight ether.
It’s hard to accept that Holm vs. de Randamie is anything but a power play by the big boys, intent on letting a reluctant Cyborg know that she doesn’t run the show. To be fair to the newly-naturalised US citizen, her demands didn’t seem particularly unreasonable – certainly compared to some others we could mention.
Eighteen months ago, (cue hazy screen, cutting away to a fictional flashback) the ideal scenario would have been a featherweight division (perhaps of 3+ people, call me crazy), of which, we assume, Cyborg would be the champ. An omnipresent, unbeaten Ronda would pile on a few pounds and move up to take on Cyborg – either taking her crown and strutting off into the night, or putting it down to a failed experiment and heading back to her still-warm bantamweight throne. Either way it would be PPV gold dust.
Snap back to reality; that is a scenario that we’ll never see, the landscape has changed so drastically in the last year or so. Twelve months ago Holm was the bantamweight champ – and boy it feels like a long time ago. Perhaps she’s serving out her penance in the so-called featherweight division. Maybe if she helps prove its worth, she’ll be given a title shot back at her former weight class. Maybe she can hold two belts at once? I hear it’s the new thing to aim for.
And goodness me, what would the UFC do if the practical, no nonsense de Randamie takes home the belt? They barely know what to do with the affable, charming Nunes, what marketing spin would they hurl at the Iron Lady herself?
I’ll level with you, Pete: I’m not confident in the future of this division unless Cyborg is roped in soon. Pre-drug test, her reasoning for declining fights seemed pretty sound; how could anyone argue that she should be giving her weight cuts the care and attention they deserve, especially if they’d watched the video footage that did the rounds last year?
Until Cyborg steps in the cage, the division is lacking its natural leader. Until the division proves that it can hold its own (i.e make some money) the UFC is going to be reluctant to sign up more featherweights. Female featherweights may not be the richest of pickings at the best of times, but Invicta has a few who could make the switch.
So, until then, the women’s featherweight division will remain a blip, a niggle, a floater in the corner of your vision; a two horse race.
