UFC 228 is now available on Amazon Prime.
Well, here it is: the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s flyweight division so far. Why bother? In the interest of completeness, of course. You could think of this infographic as the equivalent of a promising prospect’s rookie card. An imposing collection of bantamweights and strawweights rushed to fill the void created by the inception of a 125-pound women’s division in the UFC. If they pan out anything like we hope, one day you will be able to look at the 2025 version of this graphic and say “I remember back when this thing had only one champ and one championship fight on it."
Of course, the division tripped over its own feet right out of the
starting blocks. The UFC devoted a season of “The Ultimate Fighter”
to crowning an inaugural champion, with an impressive cast of
veterans to lend the new division credibility. However, the
little-heralded and No. 14-seeded Nicco
Montano ended up fighting her way to the final, only to have
her opponent, Sijara
Eubanks, fall victim to a poor weight cut. In stepped Roxanne
Modafferi, who had been the No. 1 seed going in but had lost to
Eubanks in their semifinal.
Needless to say, Montano’s win over Modafferi did little to legitimize her new belt in the eyes of many fans, and to make matters worse, she promptly took most of a year off due to injury. These factors have conspired to make Montano arguably the least-respected champion in the modern history of the promotion. This weekend she will defend her title against a woman that many see as the champ-in-waiting, Valentina Shevchenko, and will likely enter the Octagon as the largest underdog of any defending champion in UFC history.
Montano has been defiant in maintaining that fans and media are counting her out just as they did going into the “TUF” house, and that she plans to shock the world again. On Saturday, we will find out whether Nicco Montano is a footnote in the history of the UFC women’s flyweight division, or this is just the beginning of her own chapter.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Well, here it is: the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s flyweight division so far. Why bother? In the interest of completeness, of course. You could think of this infographic as the equivalent of a promising prospect’s rookie card. An imposing collection of bantamweights and strawweights rushed to fill the void created by the inception of a 125-pound women’s division in the UFC. If they pan out anything like we hope, one day you will be able to look at the 2025 version of this graphic and say “I remember back when this thing had only one champ and one championship fight on it."
Advertisement
Needless to say, Montano’s win over Modafferi did little to legitimize her new belt in the eyes of many fans, and to make matters worse, she promptly took most of a year off due to injury. These factors have conspired to make Montano arguably the least-respected champion in the modern history of the promotion. This weekend she will defend her title against a woman that many see as the champ-in-waiting, Valentina Shevchenko, and will likely enter the Octagon as the largest underdog of any defending champion in UFC history.
Montano has been defiant in maintaining that fans and media are counting her out just as they did going into the “TUF” house, and that she plans to shock the world again. On Saturday, we will find out whether Nicco Montano is a footnote in the history of the UFC women’s flyweight division, or this is just the beginning of her own chapter.
You can embed this infographic. Copy and paste the code below into your site:
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Related Articles
