It Is Official: The Flyweight Division Makes Debut with 4-Man Tournament

The long rumored and much anticipated inclusion of the the Flyweight (125lbs and below) division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship has been made official, making it the eighth division under the promotion's roster. at the post-fight conference for UFC 140: Jones vs Machida, UFC President Dana White announced during the conference that the division will make its promotional debut with a four-man tournament as part of the UFC On FX 2 card. The two semifinal bouts will be the first tournament bouts to be part of a UFC card since the late 1990s, minus the finals of TUF. The fighters involved in the two bouts will be TPF Flyweight champion Ian McCall (11-2-0) taking on now former Bantamweight contender Demetrious Johnson (14-2-0), and now former Bantamweight contender Joseph Benavidez (15-2-0) taking on Shooto Bantamweight (123lb) champion Yasuhiro Urushitani (19-4-6). Both McCall and Urushitani will vacate their titles to become official UFC fighters and be eligible to compete in the Flyweight tournament. McCall will come into the bout recognized as the #1 Flyweight in the world riding a four fight win streak with his previous bout being a Rnd3 Submission over Darrel Montague at TPF 10 to become the TPF Flyweight champion, the most recognized of the division's titles being the only one in the United States, while Johnson will come into the bout following a Unanimous Decision loss to reigning UFC Bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz where he presented a tough challenge to the larger opponent when striking, but was outmatched in strength and size when going for takedowns and clinching which resulted in him being taken down and controlled for much of the fight. Benavidez comes into his bout riding a three fight win streak with his only two professional losses coming by way of Unanimous and Split Decision to reigning Bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and his most recent bout being an impressive Unanimous Decision win over former WEC Bantamweight champion Eddie Wineland at UFC Live 5: Hardy vs Lytle where he outmatched him with his speed, while Urushitani will come into this bout riding a five fight win streak that includes winning the Shooto Bantamweight (123lb) title and defending it in his most recent bout with a Rnd3 TKO over Yuki Shoujou at Shooto-Shootor's Legacy 3. Both bouts will act as semifinals with the winners moving on later in the year to fight for the inaugural UFC Flyweight championship title. These bouts will mark the Flyweight debuts of both Johnson and Benavidez who have been fighting at Bantamweight during their careers due to the fact that there were no major and high paying promotions that featured the Flyweight division, and accepted fighting opponents who usually had distinct height, strength, and reach advantages. Both Johnson and Benavidez competed in the WEC and were brought to the UFC when the promotion was fully absorbed. With Johnson and Benavidez dropping down to their more natural weight agains tmore equally sized opponents, there will likely be more Bantamweights on the UFC roster and outside the promotion looking to make the extra 10lb drop where they can now compete on a much more level playing field against matching opponents. With the introduction of this new weight class on the sport's biggest stage, fans can expect to be treated to some of the fastest paced action ever seen in the sport's history competing at the highest level in competition.