UFC Rumors: Dana White’s New Weight Class Could Be Trouble for Leon Edwards, MMA Vet Insinuates

There have been a lot of talks over the past few years over the introduction of a 165-pound division in the UFC. Dana White has fielded many questions about the topic over the past few years. During a recent interview with a Russian media outlet, the lightweight UFC fighter, Raphael Fiziev claimed the rumours of a new division being formed in the UFC were in fact true. However, there were still a lot of people who still believed that it would be impossible to achieve that.

Forming a 165 -pound division in the UFC would change quite a lot of things in the promotion. Though it may not be a bad thing entirely, a certain UFC legend believes that it would be too much work for the promotion and Dana White to go through with the plan. His insinuations also suggest a potential threat for welterweight champion Leon Edwards if the new division were to materialize.

UFC legend explains why the UFC won’t agree to a 165 lbs division being formed

During a recent YouTube video on Chael Sonnen’s channel, the UFC legend dismissed UFC lightweight Rafael Fiziev’s claims about the 165lbs division being established in the UFC. Despite the new division being rumored to be close to taking form, the retired mixed martial artist believes that the change would only bring confusion for a lot of athletes in the UFC.

In the YouTube video, Sonnen stated, “I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news. But just so that we’re perfectly clear and you don’t go wasting your time and life. There is not going to be a 165-pound division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship that can test a 170-pound division. If you’re gonna bet your chips… You are not just making a bet that they’re gonna have a 165-pound division, you’re simultaneously betting that they do away with 170. You sound like an insane person, when you make either of those statements.”

And whether people like to agree with it or not, the “Bad Guy” isn’t wrong. Not only would it be a hassle for the UFC CEO, Dana White, but would also be an issue for the fighters dominating the 170-pound division currently. An inclusion of the 175-pound division might bring problems for the welterweight champion, Leon Edwards who is currently on a spectacular run as the welterweight champion. Dana White in the past also explained his reasons for not wanting to create a 165-pound division.

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Dana White addresses rumors of the inclusion of the 165-pound division back in 2018

All the way back in 2018 during an interview with Brett Okamoto, the UFC CEO addressed why he didn’t wish to include a 165-pound division, despite a lot of fighters who were interested in fighting in that weight class. White claimed that making a 165-pound division would only complicate things more as the fighters who are unable to win titles at 170 and 155 would jump to the weight class to win a belt there. He claimed that he hadn’t even considered it at the time as it didn’t make much sense for the promotion.

White concluded by saying, “We’ve always kept things simple. One of the things about boxing is you used to have junior middleweight, super-middleweight, and all these different weights, and it was hard to follow. You didn’t know who was the champion, and this is pretty simple and easy to follow. We have enough weight classes.”

However, given that the conversation was from 6 years ago, what do you think about the possibility of there being a 165-pound division being included in the UFC today? Do you agree with Sonnen’s statements? Or do you believe in Rafael Fieziev claiming the introduction of a new division soon? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

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