The Great Flyweight Purge (Updated May 2019)

This thread will keep updated all of the UFC flyweights that are no longer on the roster, starting with the initial loss of former flyweight kingpin Demetrious Johnson. As the promotion has begun to let fighters in the division go, we will keep track and keep this thread updated as the news comes in. We will also keep track of flyweights that are moving up in weight to stay in the company.


Demetrious Johnson (27-3-1, 15-2-1 UFC) - Released as part of a "trade" to ONE Championship

Sergio Pettis (17-4, 8-4 UFC) - Moved to Bantamweight, facing Rob Font at UFC on Fox 31

Henry Cejudo (13-2, 7-2 UFC) - Moved to Bantamweight, facing TJ Dillashaw for BW Belt at UFC 223

Jose "Shorty" Torres (8-1, 1-1 UFC) - Released

Jarred Brooks (14-2, 2-2 UFC) - Released

Justin Scoggins (11-5, 4-5 UFC) - Released after accepting short-notice fight at Bantamweight


Upcoming Flyweight Bouts:
Mark De La Rosa vs. Joby Sanchez, UFN 139 in Denver on 11/10/18
Eric Shelton vs. Joseph Morales, UFN 139 in Denver on 11/10/18
Alexandre Pantoja vs. Ulka Sasaki in Buenos Aires on 11/17/18
Kai Kara France vs. Ashkan Mokhtarian in Adelaide on 12/2/18
Wilson Reis vs. Ben Nguyen in Adelaide on 12/2/18

Current Remaining Flyweight Roster:
Alex Perez
Alexandre Pantoja
Ashkan Mokhtarian
Ben Nguyen

Brandon Moreno
Deiveson Figueiredo
Dustin Ortiz
Elias Garcia
Eric Shelton
Hector Sandoval
Joby Sanchez
John Moraga
Joseph Benavidez
Joseph Morales
Jussier Formiga
Kai Kara France
Magomed Bibulatov
Marco Beltran
Mark De La Rosa
Matheus Nicolau
Matt Schnell
Naoki Inoue
Ray Borg
Roberto Sanchez
Ryan Benoit
Said Nurmagomedov
Tim Elliott
Ulka Sasaki
Wilson Reis

If you see another flyweight getting released or announcing a change in division, please post the information in the thread and we will credit you in this post. And if you want to trash on flyweights, you should take that elsewhere.
Cejudo vs Dillashaw at UFC 223?

Nice thread btw
 
People with families losing their jobs is ‘Great’ to you? De-mod this loser @jei

A lot of these guys would do fine at 135 yet we still have WMMA fighters who are 3-4 fighting in the prelim headliners.

Fuck outta here.
Manlet detected.

Sorry bro, i had to
 
I don't understand why we have wmma 145, which has one girl, and 125, which is all women who moved up or down a weight class, but we're getting rid of flw, which has some legitimate talent. Several of those guys could make waves at 135, but will be too small to get the gold. It's a shame
 
Da9irct.jpg
 
Bothers me a bit they didnt even get the chance to move up, they just got axed.. even if they were in camp for a fight, thats uber fucked up those guys are all out of pocket
 
Bothers me a bit they didnt even get the chance to move up, they just got axed.. even if they were in camp for a fight, thats uber fucked up those guys are all out of pocket

would be way too many BW's don't ya think?
 
This thread will keep updated all of the UFC flyweights that are

on your "other" list

Marco Beltran - released (3 fight losing streak, not tested by usada since september 2017 - no way is he still signed)



Jenel Lausa - isnt on your list, I think hes been released though
Jordan Espinosa - not on your list, was due to make his debut but got injured, no idea if hes still contracted
 
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135, 145, 156, 168, 181, 195, 210, HW. Who's complaining? This make much more sense than the current weight class structure.
 
Joby Sanchez - fight scheduled
Kai Kara France - fight scheduled

Marco Beltran - released
Mark De La Rosa - fight scheduled
Matheus Nicolau - almost certainly released - his usada suspension just ended and theyve been cutting the usada failures


Jenel Lausa - isnt on your list, I think hes been released though
Jordan Espinosa - not on your list, was due to make his debut but got injured, no idea if hes still contracted
The italicized fighters in the spoiler section I marked for notekeeping purposes that they had a fight scheduled. I also have an "upcoming flyweight bouts" section listing the scheduled fights.

Didn't know about Beltran's cut but he lost three in a row so it's understandable. His social media still says UFC so do we have a source confirming he's gone?
Nicolau lost to Ortiz in July, I thought his suspension was up in 2017 unless he popped again and I missed it.
Lausa was released in June, correct.
Espinosa still hasn't made his debut but I'll add him to the list.
 
thank god

ufc has too many fighters
too many cards

shit is only going to get worse with clueless wme and espn

they get rid of men's flyweight, but keep the wmma divisions...gee, that makes tons of sense...I don't think I know anyone that actually likes watching wmma...you can't keep 3 divisions of women, when there are literally only 2 or 3 people out of all 3 divisions that anyone even knows or cares about....cyborg, holly and maybe nunes...but not sure anyone gives a rat's ass about muff eating nunes...I like watching cyborg fight..but other than her, that's it...you cant keep divisions alive for 2 people....maybe throw in rose and joanna, but even they don't bring in much money.
 
I think you'd be surprised.

going by the comments on here, and the people I know that watch...the vast majority can't stand womens mma...I think the ufc is only keeping them for political reasons...
 
Wow. That sucks for a lot of guys. Why wouldn't they keep someone like Torres?

Sergio must have had a feeling. After his last fight he said he was moving up to BW, which didn't really make sense to me. He seemed out-sized there.

Also I'm not sure where most can go. Bellator doesn't have a FLW division anymore, and I doubt they would pick up those FLW for BW, unless it was someone like Pettis. PFL didn't even have a BW tourney.
 
The italicized fighters in the spoiler section I marked for notekeeping purposes that they had a fight scheduled. I also have an "upcoming flyweight bouts" section listing the scheduled fights.

Didn't know about Beltran's cut but he lost three in a row so it's understandable. His social media still says UFC so do we have a source confirming he's gone?
Nicolau lost to Ortiz in July, I thought his suspension was up in 2017 unless he popped again and I missed it.
Lausa was released in June, correct.
Espinosa still hasn't made his debut but I'll add him to the list.

ok, ignore me on Nicolau Pereira, was going down my list and totally forgot it was 2018 not 2017.

Beltran, nothing official, but he lost three straight and his last USADA test was 18 October 2017. A year without being tested tells me hes not in the testing pool. (55 weeks ago)




the ones on the cusp of being cut...

fighting for their contracts:

David Joby Sanchez - 0-2 UFC
Ashkan Mokhtarian - 0-2 UFC
Eric Shelton - 1-3 UFC

All three will almost certainly be cut if they lose their upcoming fights (and even wins probably wont save them)
 
I think the ufc is only keeping them for political reasons...

.....and because two of the biggest rated tv cards in years were headlined by women... (shev v holm, and waterson v pvz). Women have consistently pulled decent ratings on network tv

upload_2018-11-7_18-48-28-png.467339

upload_2018-11-7_18-50-8-png.467341


when the guys can do numbers close to theirs then they will scrap wmma.


First fight announced for an ESPN card? PVZ v Ostovich, its not a co-incidence
 
ok, ignore me on Nicolau Pereira, was going down my list and totally forgot it was 2018 not 2017.

Beltran, nothing official, but he lost three straight and his last USADA test was 18 October 2017. A year without being tested tells me hes not in the testing pool. (55 weeks ago)




the ones on the cusp of being cut...

fighting for their contracts:

David Joby Sanchez - 0-2 UFC
Ashkan Mokhtarian - 0-2 UFC
Eric Shelton - 1-3 UFC

All three will almost certainly be cut if they lose their upcoming fights (and even wins probably wont save them)
Oh don't get me wrong, I agree that Beltran is either on the chopping block or was already quietly released and we just never heard anything. He's been MIA for a long time, and your stats of the testing pool further corroborate that. One of those fighters that they put on the shelf and left there, they do that from time to time.

I imagine after this weekend we'll have more cuts depending on who wins and loses on the Denver card. Same will go for the others that lose on upcoming fights, it's not looking good for them. I'd be surprised if they schedule any more flyweight fights till the end of the year.
 
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