Featured: The Flyweights: Give Some Respect to the Little Guys!

 The Flyweights: Give Some Respect to the Little Guys!

Brandon Moreno fights this Saturday in the featured prelim against Brandon Royval | Stephen R. Slyvanie, USA Today

When I started watching MMA, the UFC didn’t even have any weight divisions under 155lbs. Dana White always said that the smaller guys were not marketable enough for him to make these divisions. Finally in 2010, the UFC bought the WEC, which specialized in the smaller weight classes for years, and started the 135lb and 145lb divisions shortly after the sale. These divisions over time have become some of the more entertaining and deeper of all the weight classes in the UFC. 

The Flyweights came just after in 2012, with their first fights being a four man tournament with Joseph Benavidez and Yasuhiro Urushitani in one semifinal and Ian McCall and Demetrious Johnson in the other semifinal. Johnson went on to win the tournament and become the first Flyweight champ in the UFC. He would hold the belt for six years until 2018, when he lost to Henry Cejudo by split decision. When this happened, rumors started circulating that UFC President Dana White and the front office at the promotion would dissolve the 125lb division citing low PPV sales, and not much star power coming from that division as reasons for getting rid of it.

 "People didn't care," UFC president Dana White said of the flyweight division shortly after Johnson's departure. "I battled for a long time, I tried to keep it alive and obviously, it's still going on now. We still have fights going on in that division, but we'll see what the future holds for it."

They acted quickly in releasing a good number of their fighters that had fought in the Flyweight division and telling the ones that they didn’t cut that they had to move up to 135lbs if they wanted to keep their jobs with the UFC. But after two long years, and what seems like numerous attacks on the division from fans and media members alike, it appears that the Flyweights are here to stay and rightfully so. I personally do not get the hate. They are easily the fastest and most technical of any of the other divisions.Yes, there are not a ton of power punchers that can produce a highlight reel knockout like Ngannou but there are plenty of other aspects of the MMA game that they excel at and should be more appreciated. 

This Saturday we have two great Flyweight bouts that should bring more eyes to the division and show just how exciting it is. The first is the featured prelim fight right before the PPV starts; Brandon Royval (12-4) vs Brandon Moreno (17-5-1). Do not take your eyes off the screen for a second in this one. Both are certified wild men and will throw anything, at any time. Both also have great ground games that might negate each other, so look for this one to be a fun standup war from the start. The winner should get a title shot next, so this fight is as important as any other in that weight class. I am leaning toward Royval right now as the +150 underdog for my pick, (Sign Up Here With MyBookie) but it should be an entertaining scrap either way.

  

The main event of the evening is Deiveson Figueirdo (19-1) putting his belt up for grabs for the first time against Alex Perez (24-5). Figuerdo, 32, is one of the few Flyweights that has legit KO power in both hands. He knocked Benavidez out twice to win the title and I would expect him to be ready to do it to his new opponent too. His opponent Alex Perez, 28, got the call for this fight eight weeks ago when Cody Garbrandt pulled out with an injury. Perez is a very scrappy fighter that is on a three fight win streak. He has a very well rounded game that has been polished over his last couple of fights. His last fight he scored a rare leg kick TKO in the first round over Formiga. Figueirdo is about a -320 favorite to win this fight and I agree with the odds makers. He is the more complete fighter in this one and has more paths to victory in my mind than his opponent. Tune in Saturday to UFC 255, it should be a great card regardless of what the casuals and the haters have to say!