Four years have passed since the UFC crowned its first featherweight queen, and the division is still crawling. Norma Dumont, who scored the biggest win of her MMA career this past Saturday against Felicia Spencer, believes it’s up to her and other contenders to keep things interesting enough at 145 pounds.
Speaking with MMA Fighting days after her split decision victory at UFC Vegas 27, Dumont revealed her initial plan was to cut back to 135 pounds next, but “the UFC asked me to stay in the 145-pound division to shake things up.”
“I would like to have more fights before I face Amanda [Nunes, two-division UFC champion],” Dumont said, “but I believe I’ll probably fight Amanda with two more wins at 145 pounds. I won’t have the time I wanted to mature, so we will have to speed up the process and evolve.”
Problem is, the UFC doesn’t even have a ranking available at featherweight nor a handful of athletes in the division. That why, according to Dumont, the company insisted on having her compete at a heavier weight.
“The UFC requested that so they won’t close the division,” Dumont said. “If I go down, [they will] probably close the division because there will be no one left as potential contenders for the belt. … Based on our conversation [with the UFC], they will probably bring someone from 135 [to fight me].”
If it was up to Dumont, she would call a big-name veteran to test herself next inside the octagon. She laments the fact Megan Anderson isn’t around anymore so she could get herself an “interesting” rematch, but sees other options from bantamweight.
“I would really like to fight popular athletes like Miesha Tate, who’s coming back now, Sara McMann, [Raquel] Pennington, [Germaine] de Randamie or Holly Holm,” “The Immortal” said, “but I think the UFC might bring bigger athletes like Julija [Stoliarenko], who fainted during the weigh-ins and have a hard time cutting weight.”
“For me, staying at 145 would be way healthier,” she continued. “Having competition available at 145 would be way better for me because I wouldn’t have the stress of having to cut weight and live that strict life. I know I do a good job for this division not to die. It’s up to me, it’s up to Felicia and the girls in the division. There aren’t many, so it’s up to us doing a good job.”