Report | UFC considering flyweight tournament if Henry Cejudo vacates

The UFC has reportedly considered a flyweight tournament in the event that UFC flyweight champion Henry Cejudo vacates his title.

According to Nolan King of MMAjunkie.com, there is a rumor floating around that the UFC is open to holding a tournament with the promotion’s top 125 lb fighters if Cejudo decides that he will give up the flyweight title. UFC flyweight Tim Elliott apparently also heard the rumor as he discussed recently with Aaron Bronsteter.

Cejudo is also the UFC bantamweight champion and will likely have to make a decision on what weight class he wants to fight in next year when he returns from injury. The UFC does not like having champions with two belts tying up two different divisions. With bigger money fights being available for Cejudo at 135lbs and with him likely not wanting to cut back down to 125lbs, dropping the flyweight title makes more sense.

The UFC originally handed out the first-ever flyweight belt to Demetrious Johnson when he defeated Joseph Benavidez in the finals of the flyweight tournament at UFC 152 back in 2012. Johnson had beaten Ian McCall by decision to advance to the finals, while Benavidez got to the finals with a TKO win over Yasuhiro Urushitani.

If the UFC does indeed run another flyweight tournament after Cejudo vacates, there are a few fighters who could potentially be part of it.

Benavidez would obviously be in the conversation. He’s the No. 1 contender right now at 125lbs and even has a previous victory over Cejudo. Deiveson Figueiredo would also be there after he just submitted Tim Elliott at UFC Tampa. Sergio Pettis would likely also be there as well considering he has a recent win over Benavidez. And the final spot could very well go to the winner of UFC 245’s Kai Kara-France vs. Brandon Moreno matchup. There’s also Jussier Formiga, Alexandre Pantoja and Matt Schnell as other potential fits for a tournament.

Again, this is just a report and nothing is official, but a tournament does make sense.

Would you be interested in a UFC flyweight tournament if Henry Cejudo leaves the division?