The end of WBW?

[ChrisBenoit]

Hopefully. Kayla won't be able to make 135 forever and nobody cares about Pena or Pennington

 

[Dreyga Hates You Sherbums]

I'd rather just have atomweight than this crap

You can have both. It isn’t either/or

 

[Kyojiro Kagenuma]

You can have both. It isn’t either/or

I don't think we'll get either

 

[leto1776]

Open 105
Keep 115
Keep 125
Open 125

Problem solved. Girls can now fight at BW/FW without having to cut weight, we'd just see pena nunes and the other bigger WBW like Macy or Ketlan just fight without having to cut weight, Limit it to 160 if you want, and I expect majority of females will come in close to 152

No. Bantamweight has always been a better division, always will be. Either make 135, or go fight in regionals.

There isn’t enough talent to sustain women’s 135 or 145. Nunes is already retired and I doubt she’ll stick around. Harrison probably only has a couple 135 weight cuts left at her age.

The UFC could do an openweight 135+ for occasional freakshow fights between huge women like Harrison or Gabby Garcia. But having actual women’s 135 and 145 divisions just dilutes cards with awful fights and worthless belts.

There’s talent coming up at 135. The problem is the UFC’s matchmakers are both clueless and lazy, and always ignored the division except to make the next title fight.

 

[RockyLockridge]

No. Bantamweight has always been a better division, always will be. Either make 135, or go fight in regionals.

There’s talent coming up at 135. The problem is the UFC’s matchmakers are both clueless and lazy, and always ignored the division except to make the next title fight.

Lol better than what it's the worst women's division in a land slide

 

[Darkavius]

Someone will rise. An interesting character or dominant force will rise. That’s the nature of sports

I want to believe this but what is coming other than Harrison vs. Nunes? That is literally the only WBW fight of any value. What decent prospects are coming or are in the WBW division? I think what you thinking is missing is it isn't just fighters that WBW needs but it's lacking skill as well. Look at Men's Flyweight, for example, that division is shallow because of a dominant champion but the skill that Pantoja and guys like Moreno and Taira have are at least interesting.

Look at WBW and arguably the third and fourth best WBW in the division: Pennington and Pena. Both of them fight like they took a year of cardio kickboxing classes and are near the top of the division. That speaks of how bad the division is now. On top of that Miesha Tate is still in the top 15. Tate has not been a top level fighter in almost a decade and yet she's still ranked. Tate has won 2 fights in 9 years, partly retired and is still ranked.

 

[Dreyga Hates You Sherbums]

I want to believe this but what is coming other than Harrison vs. Nunes? That is literally the only WBW fight of any value. What decent prospects are coming or are in the WBW division? I think what you thinking is missing is it isn't just fighters that WBW needs but it's lacking skill as well. Look at Men's Flyweight, for example, that division is shallow because of a dominant champion but the skill that Pantoja and guys like Moreno and Taira have are at least interesting.

Look at WBW and arguably the third and fourth best WBW in the division: Pennington and Pena. Both of them fight like they took a year of cardio kickboxing classes and are near the top of the division. That speaks of how bad the division is now. On top of that Miesha Tate is still in the top 15. Tate has not been a top level fighter in almost a decade and yet she's still ranked. Tate has won 2 fights in 9 years, partly retired and is still ranked.

You're falling into a psychological bias called projection neglect, which is the tendency to assume the future will closely resemble the present because we struggle to imagine how change unfolds over time. Our minds are wired to underestimate long-term developments, especially in dynamic systems like combat sports where growth, decline, and surprise breakthroughs happen constantly. Just because we can't currently see a breakout fighter in the Women's Bantamweight division doesn't mean one isn't coming. People forget how fast someone can rise and how easily public perception can flip.

Remember Amanda Nunes? In 2015, she was considered an afterthought. If you had asked anyone back then if she could beat Ronda Rousey, they would’ve laughed. The general belief was that Rousey was untouchable, yet Nunes dismantled her in 48 seconds.

Look at Rose Namajunas. Before she shocked Joanna Jedrzejczyk, she was seen as fragile, inconsistent, and mentally shaky. Then one upset changed everything, and she became a two-time champion. Zhang Weili was expected to lose badly to Jessica Andrade. Instead, she steamrolled her in under a minute and became a global star overnight.

Three years ago, women’s flyweight was regarded as the weakest division in the UFC. People mocked it constantly. Now, it’s arguably the most competitive and exciting women’s division. At one point, Valentina Shevchenko seemed invincible. Then out of nowhere, Taila Santos pushed her to a split decision. Alexa Grasso, someone nobody expected to win, finished her and arguably won the rematch. Manon Fiorot went into the fifth round tied 2–2 with Valentina as well.

Kayla Harrison is another clear example. After Nunes beat Cyborg, the narrative was that no one was left. At the time, Kayla wasn’t even in the conversation. A few years later, she's headlining.

Divisions evolve. Fighters improve. Just because Peña and Pennington are near the top right now doesn't mean the division is stagnant. That’s just today’s snapshot, and snapshots lie. What seems obvious in hindsight often looked impossible in the moment.

 

[KungFuCow]

Psh we used to use Sopcast and listen to radio of Pride events live at like 6am.

I still remember hearing that Mark Kerr in his return got a double leg and then promptly was KOed. Still stings a little.




The problem is WMMA is the UFC is shit at really scouting and creating strong divisions.

Outside of title fights They treat WMMA as filler with 50/50 record fighters to fill up cards for time.
Maybe if they actually scouted for multiple Olympic level competitors and boxers... it'd be a different story. For 135+ They finally are doing things better with Harrison.

It's the same shit with the men's division.


I guess to put it succinctly.
The UFC is no longer the cream of the crop.

It's that with a majority of being it's own feeder league.

I dont think there are many of us OGs from that era left around tho.

 

[leto1776]

Lol better than what it's the worst women's division in a land slide

Women’s bantamweight has always been better than women’s featherweight. Reading comprehension is your friend.

You're falling into a psychological bias called projection neglect, which is the tendency to assume the future will closely resemble the present because we struggle to imagine how change unfolds over time. Our minds are wired to underestimate long-term developments, especially in dynamic systems like combat sports where growth, decline, and surprise breakthroughs happen constantly. Just because we can't currently see a breakout fighter in the Women's Bantamweight division doesn't mean one isn't coming. People forget how fast someone can rise and how easily public perception can flip.

Remember Amanda Nunes? In 2015, she was considered an afterthought. If you had asked anyone back then if she could beat Ronda Rousey, they would’ve laughed. The general belief was that Rousey was untouchable, yet Nunes dismantled her in 48 seconds.

Look at Rose Namajunas. Before she shocked Joanna Jedrzejczyk, she was seen as fragile, inconsistent, and mentally shaky. Then one upset changed everything, and she became a two-time champion. Zhang Weili was expected to lose badly to Jessica Andrade. Instead, she steamrolled her in under a minute and became a global star overnight.

Three years ago, women’s flyweight was regarded as the weakest division in the UFC. People mocked it constantly. Now, it’s arguably the most competitive and exciting women’s division. At one point, Valentina Shevchenko seemed invincible. Then out of nowhere, Taila Santos pushed her to a split decision. Alexa Grasso, someone nobody expected to win, finished her and arguably won the rematch. Manon Fiorot went into the fifth round tied 2–2 with Valentina as well.

Kayla Harrison is another clear example. After Nunes beat Cyborg, the narrative was that no one was left. At the time, Kayla wasn’t even in the conversation. A few years later, she's headlining.

Divisions evolve. Fighters improve. Just because Peña and Pennington are near the top right now doesn't mean the division is stagnant. That’s just today’s snapshot, and snapshots lie. What seems obvious in hindsight often looked impossible in the moment.

Well said.

I dont think there are many of us OGs from that era left around tho.

the mma fandom cycle is roughly every five years. Give it a few more years, all the annoying Dagestan I fanboys will be gone, as well

 

[RockyLockridge]

Women’s bantamweight has always been better than women’s featherweight. Reading comprehension is your friend.

Apparently reading comprehension is not friends with you because if you read what I said you'll notice there is no mention of fw

only raising the bw limit. It would keep all the bantamweights bigger and introduce all other fws and females deeping the talent pool for females immensely. If WMMA develops, and enough females get into those weight classes you can divvy it up later, but as it is bw and fw are too shallow, if they were just one division things would be better. Small BW can probably make FLW as we have seen often, Future champs like Shevchenko and Andrade also fought at Call it whatever. make the Limit 150 or even open. I dont see anywhere in MMA where women have weight classes that high. So it probably wouldn't even open up the talent pool, just make it so BW's dont have to cut basically, and if they wanna get girl jacked they can. (and hopefully will )

 

[Pequeño Corey]

Not happening, and it’s more likely FW will be added again

U FIGHT CHEAP.
WMMA SUCKS.
PRIDE NEVER DIE.

I don’t see an issue with any of those opinions. I guess in your mind, anyone who doesn’t agree with you is looking for easy likes. The irony of your post here is that you shit on people for likes. No respectful, civil discourse. Just negativity. Look in the mirror bud, and stop projecting. It’s not healthy.

 

[leto1776]

Apparently reading comprehension is not friends with you because if you read what I said you'll notice there is no mention of fw

only raising the bw limit. It would keep all the bantamweights bigger and introduce all other fws and females deeping the talent pool for females immensely. If WMMA develops, and enough females get into those weight classes you can divvy it up later, but as it is bw and fw are too shallow, if they were just one division things would be better. Small BW can probably make FLW as we have seen often, Future champs like Shevchenko and Andrade also fought at Call it whatever. make the Limit 150 or even open. I dont see anywhere in MMA where women have weight classes that high. So it probably wouldn't even open up the talent pool, just make it so BW's dont have to cut basically, and if they wanna get girl jacked they can. (and hopefully will )

There talent level and number of participants in women’s combat sport drops off dramatically past 140 lbs. this is an indisputable fact.

 

[RockyLockridge]

There talent level and number of participants in women’s combat sport drops off dramatically past 140 lbs. this is an indisputable fact.

that's why you get as deep a division as possible by making it 1 division. Imagine if UFC hw was divided like 225, 245, 265.


Imagine how thin that would be. This would be best for BW fighters. Especially women because from my understanding mentration cycles make it harder to make weight and this makes a more open weight class where these women do not need to cut as much weight. Most WBW currently are still going to be walking around at 140-50 anyways

 

[Dreyga Hates You Sherbums]

There talent level and number of participants in women’s combat sport drops off dramatically past 140 lbs. this is an indisputable fact.

I feel like you missing the idea to combine the divisions. Take 2 thin weight divisions and fuse them in order to bolster their roster

 

[leto1776]

that's why you get as deep a division as possible by making it 1 division. Imagine if UFC hw was divided like 225, 245, 265.


Imagine how thin that would be. This would be best for BW fighters. Especially women because from my understanding mentration cycles make it harder to make weight and this makes a more open weight class where these women do not need to cut as much weight. Most WBW currently are still going to be walking around at 140-50 anyways

It’s not gonna get any deeper. The talent is not there.

I feel like you missing the idea to combine the divisions. Take 2 thin weight divisions and fuse them in order to bolster their roster

See above.

 

[RockyLockridge]

It’s not gonna get any deeper. The talent is not there.

See above.

lol, obviously get gets deeper if you do that. you denying reality won't change that.

 

[CroCopsLHK]

Ufc needs larger women. The divisions 125/115 do okay. Frankly a 105 lb division would be better

You get these monsters like Harrisson, Cyborg, Nunes who destroy people and keep them out. Pena still wants her name in there and okay... So that's like 3 women who could possibly fight for the belt. Who else, Keitlyn Veira?

No more De Randamie. It does look bleak beyond Harrison vs Nunes. Pena needs to win a fight or two outside of title fights. I love her but sadly it's hard to justify her fighting the winner

 

[Darkavius]

Ufc needs larger women. The divisions 125/115 do okay. Frankly a 105 lb division would be better

You get these monsters like Harrisson, Cyborg, Nunes who destroy people and keep them out. Pena still wants her name in there and okay... So that's like 3 women who could possibly fight for the belt. Who else, Keitlyn Veira?

No more De Randamie. It does look bleak beyond Harrison vs Nunes. Pena needs to win a fight or two outside of title fights. I love her but sadly it's hard to justify her fighting the winner

If the UFC plans to keep the WBW division around it does look bleak after Harrison/Nunes and I think they should close the division after that fight. However, if they do not the match ups are not difficult.

Do:

• Pennington vs. Dumont
• Viera vs. Pena
• Perez vs. Santos
• Bueno Silva vs. Aldana

Keep the division busy with what I think are fresh matchups.

 

[leto1776]

lol, obviously get gets deeper if you do that. you denying reality won't change that.

The Bellator featherweight division is proof that I’m correct.