There are many MMA artists who have been insisting on putting an end to traditional 170lb. UFC welterweight division and forming two new weight divisions i.e. 165lb. and 175lb. News have been rife that probably Nate Diaz and Dustin Poirier would lock horns as part of an inaugural fight in new 165 lb. category in UFC 230 which would take place on November 04, 2018. While the news has got many fans excited, it isn’t something UFC President Dana White is willing to work on.
While talking to media, this is what White had to say about UFC welterweight division,
“Never even considered it. It’s all just talk, I never even considered it. First of all, you make 165-pounds, you’re gonna start pulling people from the 170-pound division. And you’re going to see a lot of people from 170 and 155 that couldn’t win a title jumping to 165 to try to fight for a title there. It just doesn’t make sense.”
He went on to add,
“We’ve always kept things simple. One of the things about boxing is you used to have junior middleweight, super-middleweight, and all these different weights, and it was hard to follow. You didn’t really know who was the champion, and this is pretty simple and easy to follow. We have enough weight classes.”
Though Dana White seems adamant to stick to traditional weight classes, he might be dancing to a different tune when he figures out that Conor McGregor, the biggest star UFC has ever produced, is in favor of two separate weight divisions i.e 165lb. and 175lb.
While talking in his recent interview with Karyn Bryant, the Notorious said,
“Maybe [Nate Diaz and I] could spearhead a 165-pound division. I do believe we should go 145, 155, 165, 175, 185, even 195. Why not? There’s more belts.”
The Irishman went on to add,
“They’re stripping people [of titles] left and right. They stripped me and I only walked out the damn cage. They didn’t even offer me a fight and I was getting stripped. And then Cormier was injured or something happened to him and I got stripped of my second belt because of that reason just so they can juice up cards with belts. Well hey, stick in more weight divisions, more champions. It’s gonna help the athletes, I believe, with weight-cutting and things like that. So maybe me and Diaz can do the trilogy at 165.”
Whether Dana White puts an end to UFC welterweight division and introduces two new weight classes instead is yet to be seen. However, it is quite clear that most of the fighters want it to be that way.
