Forever the Japanese recluse division of men’s MMA, the UFC has decided to open the Flyweight division up to the world. This will likely result in many top Bantamweights moving down into the Flyweight division and the exodus begins this Friday.
The above graphical representation portrays the issue that will soon be confronting the FightMatrix Flyweight rankings. As Bantamweight is a much, much more established division, contending Bantamweights are already so much more proven than even the very top Flyweights that they will hold a distinct rating advantage.
Barring any weight cut issues and/or anomalous performances, based on the point level differences, Demetrious Johnson SHOULD easily beat Ian McCall and Joseph Benavidez SHOULD trounce Yasuhiro Urushitani. In fact, Benavidez holds such an incredibly high Bantamweight rating, if he should win this Friday, he will likely have more than triple the rating points of any other Flyweight — outside of Johnson, who himself will be an amazing strongly #2 Flyweight, should he win this Friday.
As you may, or may not know, our ratings are division-adjusted, not division-specific. In this case, that’s not really up for debate, as Johnson and Benavidez will be taking on the #1 and #3 Flyweights, respectively. Should they win, they will deserve to be ranked #1 and #2, but with an incredible amount of rating points in comparison to the rest of the division.
