EXCLUSIVE | ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong opens the door to ostracized UFC flyweights

The end is nigh for the UFC flyweight division.

Earlier this week, FloCombat reported that the promotion will soon be pulling the plug on its lightest mens’ division, and that many of the fighters on the promotion’s flyweight roster will not be given the chance to move up to the bantamweight division. Shortly thereafter, UFC flyweights such as Jose Torres, Jared Brooks and Justin Scoggins all reported that they have been released from their contracts.

While these certainly seem like grim times for the top flyweights in North America, there is some good news. Speaking to the media in attendance at Thursday’s Global Martial Arts Summit in Singapore, ONE Championship Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong opened the door to any top flyweights who find themselves in a need of a new home.

“Many other flyweights in, I’m very interested, definitely,” Sityodtong told BJPENN.COM at the Summit. “Already ONE Championship has the most stacked flyweight division in the world. I guarantee our roster is already better than the UFC’s flyweight division. But we definitely want to cherrypick and get some of the best UFC flyweights. That would be a dream come true.”

“If it’s really true that UFC is going to close down their flyweight division, then of course we will talk to all the top flyweights.”

Of all the flyweights on the UFC roster, there is one in particular that Chatri Sityodtong believes would be a great fit for ONE Championship. That fighter is reigning UFC champion Henry Cejudo, who Sityodtong considers a “buddy.”

“I will just say that I love Henry Cejudo,” he said. “If he becomes a free agent, Henry give me a call.”

Cejudo, of course, is currently linked to a bantamweight title fight with divisional champ TJ Dillashaw, so his becoming a free agent certainly seems unlike at present.

Whatever the case, it seems as though we could soon see many UFC flyweights follow in the footsteps of former champ Demetrious Johnson and join Chatri Sityodtong’s surging Asian promotion.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 11/8/2018.