October - 2016
SCRAPP! FIGHT MAGAZINE
8
bantamweight to the UFC
in 2013. Prior to that, the
primary home for women’s
MMA stateside was Strike-
force. When the UFC bought
them out, UFC President Dana
White infamously claimed
women would never fight in
the UFC. Never. Period. End
statement.
One woman changed his
mind: Ronda Rousey. In Rous-
ey, he saw what any promoter
would see: star power. Mar-
ketability. Make no mistake,
the inclusion of women in the
UFC was not about competi-
tion, or giving women a shot.
It was about hanging on to a
star with huge potential. For
the first year, women’s ban-
tamweight was the Rousey
show, for better or worse.
Marketable stars like Miesha
Tate, who was Strikeforce’s
bantamweight champ before
Rousey arm-barred her out
of their first fight, were over-
looked. It was all Rousey, all
the time.
Critics of a featherweight divi-
sion who claim featherweight
would just be the Cyborg
show, take note. We’ve been
there, done that. It all worked
out in the end. One star can
establish a division.
The depth criticism is a little
more valid. Bantamweight
had an entire division ready
and able to prop up Rousey: a
steady stream of victims if you
will. In the women’s feather-
weight division, the ranks are
split: Invicta FC has a chunk of
the talent. So too does Bella-
tor MMA, who got the jump
on the UFC in creating a wom-
en’s 145lb weight class. They
scooped up Marloes Coenen,
who has twice lost to Cyborg,
as well as Julia Budd, Arlene
Blencowe, and Gabrielle Hol-
loway. Four of the top ten
ranked featherweights at the
moment, in other words.
Still, it’s hard not to think of
that old Field of Dreams line:
If you build it, they will come.
Consider for the moment that
if you’re a 135lb fighter in the
UFC, you have just two op-
tions: fight at bantamweight,
or make a grueling cut down
to 115lbs. For many, especially
those already cutting weight
to 135lbs, there are no other
options. Now, add a weight
class 10 pounds north of ban-
tamweight. Not only do you
have Cyborg, but possibly the
likes of Holly Holm and Cat
Zingano moving up in weight.
Those two fighters alone
would represent the biggest
tests of Cyborg Justino’s ca-
reer. While three fighters (po-
tentially) does not a division
make, also consider the Invicta
angle: when the UFC adopted
the strawweight division, they
absorbed the bulk of Invicta’s
115lb fighters. With feath-
erweight, it’s likely the UFC
would do the same. Invicta
just so happens to own five of
the top ten women’s feather-
weight fighters in the world
at the moment, not counting
Cyborg herself, who fights for
both Shannon Knapp’s pro-
motion and the UFC. Not to
mention they boast a number
of fighters just outside the top
ten.
See the building blocks? The
argument about competition
and a thin weight class seems
to be based on how far ahead
of her opponents Cyborg is,
but that is the exact same ar-
gument made about Rousey
just a few short years ago. It
took some time, but the divi-
sion caught up to her. With
Justino and featherweight, it
will be no different. Yes, it will
take time — but development
is inevitable when the plat-
form to do it via is present.
The UFC represents that plat-
form. The money is greater, al-
lowing fighters in a potential
145lb division to invest more
in themselves. The exposure
is greater, something that will
attract more stars from other
disciplines. How many box-
ers, wrestlers, and Mauy Thai
champs fighting around the
featherweight limit might
jump at the chance to cross
over if the opportunity to fight
in the UFC arose? We already
saw it happen in the bantam-
weight division with Holly
Holm. A multi-time, multi-
weight boxing champion, she
