Imagine you’re one of the top contenders in your division. And while fighters from other divisions get frequent matchups, you have been waiting for around 6 months and are yet without an opponent. Sounds frustrating, right? Well, that’s exactly how the women’s bantamweight #4, Norma Dumont seemed to feel. Her last bout was against Irene Aldana at UFC 306. But even though she’s desperate to fight again, Dana White hasn’t really taken any steps as of now, to put her against anyone. And now, she has come forth with the truth about the system. 

On 26 March 2025, Ariel Helwani invited Dumont to his humble set of The Ariel Helwani Show. Therein, the famed MMA reporter pointed out that ‘The Immortal’ was getting antsy. Of course, he had already talked with her manager, Alex Davis, who claimed that Dumont wanted to get back into the Octagon. Responding to that, the bantamweight said (via a translator), “A fighter needs to fight, right? We’ve been talking about this point with the organization for a while now. I’m coming from a complicated situation with 5 victories, but it’s tough to get a belt fight here. I mean, we’re trying to get something, but it’s just the way the whole thing is set up. It’s really tough to get a fight there.”

It’s true that the 34-year-old Brazilian is a pretty celebrated athlete when it comes to the UFC’s female roster. But even with an impressive score of 12-2-0 and with a 5-fight win streak, she has been unable to book a bout. So what’s the reason behind that? Why is someone from the top 5 without a fight for so long? According to ‘The Immortal’, it’s all because of her intimidation factor. She simply scared her opponents off. 

Dumont said, “So the truth is, I’m really not the top option for any of them. If you look at the top 5, there’s nobody really that wants to fight me. They know I have a good standing game, I have a good ground game. But the degree of difficulty to fight against me, they just don’t want to face it. They’re looking for the easiest fights. And to a certain extent, I understand that they have to do their work. Some of them are coming out of defeats even. But I’m here for whenever they want.” 

While Dana White and Co. have stayed radio silent about Norma Dumont’s next bout, the women’s bantamweight #4 revealed her own plans. And it’s definitely not a negligible callout. She put the former 2-time PFL women’s lightweight champion, Kayla Harrison, in her crosshairs. Let’s see what Dumont said. 

Norma Dumont gave Dana White a perfect option for her next bout

During a conversation with MMA Junkie on 20 March 2025, Dumont addressed the situation with Kayla Harrison and Julianna Peña. Yes, she admitted that things were actually weird in the division. According to her, it seemed like Pena was arguably avoiding a fight against Harrison. Needless to say, Harrison has an aura and history that scared her opponents. After all, she wasn’t only a former PFL champion, but also won the 2010 World Judo Championships and 2 gold medals in the Olympics. No wonder she got inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame in 2023. 

With Pena likely out of the talks against Harrison, Dumont suggested that she could swoop in to replace ‘The Venezuelan Vixen’. Dumont said, “If Julianna and Kayla doesn’t happen, I could fight Kayla for an interim title. That’s kind of what I think is fair so that the division evolves. … If Julianna vs. Kayla doesn’t happen, I’m the one in line for an interim title shot. It’s the fight that makes sense. There’s nobody else.”

And if that didn’t happen, ‘The Immortal’ had two other names ready. She believed that the right fight for her would be Ketlen Vieira or Raquel Pennington. No doubt, these two bouts seemed like the next best thing with all the contenders lined up in the top 5. All that ‘The Immortal’ needed now was a nod from the UFC head honcho. 

What are your thoughts on Dumont’s frustration? Do you think White should let the #4 bantamweight star fight for the interim belt? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.