UFC Women's Division Has One Serious Problem

It’s A Struggle To Find 15 Fighters To Rank

Proof that women’s 135 lbs is shallow is the fact that it’s a struggle to actually rank 15 fighters in the weight class.

Taking a look at the top-15 rankings right now, you have fighters such as Raquel Pennington and Miesha Tate who haven’t won a fight in several years still ranked high in the weight class.

Yes, they are former champions and deserve respect, but when you have to go back a few years to find a win on someone’s record, they probably shouldn’t be ranked.

This simply is not a problem in other UFC weight classes, where in nearly every other division, you have 25 fighters that could be realistically placed in the top 15, save for the UFC heavyweight division.

But the UFC heavyweight division has knockouts, so it’s not going anywhere.

The women’s bantamweight division, though, could be at risk of being the first UFC weight class dissolved since women’s featherweight was cut in 2023.

I hope that’s not the case, but I really think there’s a chance it could happen unless the UFC can find some new prospects to emerge, and right now, it feels like there just aren’t many female fighters at 135 lbs that are ready to fight for the title now or anytime soon.

There Aren’t Many Women’s Bantamweight Prospects On The Come-Up

Another problem with the UFC women’s bantamweight division is that there aren’t many prospects on the come-up.

Arguably, the top prospect in the weight class right now is Bia Mesquita, who is 35 years old but who is still new to the UFC, having only been on the roster for a year.

Other than Mesquita, I do like the 31-year-old Nina Milosevic as a prospect; the 26-year-old Luana Santos has some potential, and 20-year-old Alice Pereira could be good one day.

But other than that, there aren’t really any standout younger fighters in the weight class, though hopefully some new prospects emerge in the next few years.

When you compare the women’s bantamweight division to the men’s bantamweight division, it’s night and day.

At men’s bantamweight, it’s actually hard to rank the top 15 because there are about 30 fighters who could qualify for a top-15 ranking, and there are at least 15-20 prospects who could be championship material one day.

That’s a good problem to have, and one that the UFC women’s bantamweight division is lacking right now.

So, what’s the solution? I wish I knew, and I think the UFC matchmakers wish they knew, too, because if they did, then they would fix the problem.

The UFC just better hope that some young women around 135 lbs in weight take an interest in MMA and start training in the sport; otherwise, the UFC women’s bantamweight division may soon go the way of the women’s featherweight division, which was eliminated several years ago.