Did you know that there was a time when the UFC was considering scrapping its lowest-weight division for men? That’s right. Following the departure of arguably the greatest to do it, Demetrious Johnson, from the organization, the division was on the verge of being removed, much like the women’s featherweight division. Helming it would have been TJ Dillashaw who dropped down from bantamweight to challenge the then-flyweight champ Henry Cejudo. Thankfully, ‘Triple C’ put Dillashaw away in the first round to save the division. Since then, we’ve had incredible fighters like Brandon Moreno, Deiveson Figueiredo, and Alexandre Pantoja keeping the division relevant. But the talks of the flyweight division predicament have not died down yet. And Joe Rogan had things to say about it.

What was Dana White’s reasoning for removing the 125 lbs division? Well, according to him, flyweight was the least exciting weight class for fans. Rogan, more or less, echoed the same sentiment as Dana White about fans not caring enough about it. But he doesn’t understand why people look down on that weight class. Despite having some top-class technical fighters, the 57-year-old claimed that the bantamweight division, which is just 10 pounds more than its predecessor, has been able to have more of an impact on fans with some of the biggest stars the UFC has on its payroll right now.

“There’s a lot of things going on, but it’s also weird that 125, it’s real hard to sell. 135, no problem. 135, you got ‘Suga’ Sean, you’ve got Merab,” Joe Rogan stated on the UFC 312’s JRE Fight Companion. Brendan Schaub, who was a guest on that show, would also add some insights about how Sean O’Malley, Merab Dvalishvili, and many more have been able to not only impress fans with their fighting prowess but also with their personalities, which have garnered them millions of fans across several social media platforms.

“[in 135lbs] You’ve got stars with personality, but 125, every dude’s sitting on the couch is like, ‘They’re tiny. I can beat them up,’ and they have no f***ing clue,” said Brendan Schaub. Confused with the difference in fans’ perception of both divisions, given that it’s only a matter of a few pounds between them, Joe Rogan responded, “How is it 10 pounds like, ‘Ah, okay!’ Isn’t that weird? That’s weird.”

When we talk about flyweight MMA fighters, the one name that keeps popping up in our heads is Demetrious Johnson, who fans feel like he wasn’t given his dues as an active champion. Tipping his hat to ‘Mighty Mouse’, Joe Rogan added, “Mighty Mouse was amazing when he was a champion, amazing! He was doing wizardry with people.”

True to Dana White’s claims about the division, the past few PPVs featuring a flyweight title fight as the headliner didn’t do great business for the promotion. Let’s take a look at that front.

How did the UFC PPVs featuring 125-pound title fights do in 2024?

The UFC is bigger than ever before, so obviously, the money’s better now than it was before. Last year, the UFC recorded one of its best calendar years and Dana White saw UFC 306 registering the biggest gate in the history of the promotion, which featured a rather one-sided and lackluster bantamweight title main event. But UFC 301 and UFC 310 couldn’t make much impact.

Let’s talk about UFC 310 first since the PPV had a former Rizin FC champion and Japanese sensation Kai Asakura making his UFC debut and there was a lot of hype surrounding him… or so we thought. Not only did Asakura make an underwhelming debut, but the PPV generated the lowest gate record of the year, which was just around $5 million.

Now, when we shift our attention to UFC 301, it’s important to note that, at that time, Dana White and Co. just had their groundbreaking UFC 300 PPV, which was a big hit among fans. But UFC 301 couldn’t do that despite Alexandre Pantoja defending his title successfully in his home country. The CEO didn’t even attend the PPV and was replaced by Executive Vice President Dave Shaw, who didn’t even mention the details of the gate record at the post-fight presser. This only affirmed the perception that the show was unsuccessful compared to the other marquee events of the year.

Regardless, do you like watching flyweight fights? If so, what should the company, its CEO, or fighters in the division do to make it exciting for fans? Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.