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Dana White may be working on a new lower weight class for the UFC. In fact, it could be atomweight, the lowest division in mainstream MMA. This all stems from the UFC CEO's recent statements at a DWCS press conference, during which he spoke about the talent in South America and Asia.
As he touched on what both continents have to offer, White revealed his interest in launching a new division. It was at this point that a media member pointed out the large percentage of 105-pounders in Latin America, which got White thinking.
"That's the other thing. As you start talking about South America, you start to talk about Asia, whether it's China or Japan or [South] Korea, we keep cultivating talent in these places. We might end up creating another division."
When he was again asked about the prospect of a UFC atomweight division, White doubled down.
"Yeah, that's what I just said."
Check out Dana White revealing his interest in atomweight (25:17):
At the moment, the lightest division that the UFC has to offer is women's strawweight, where the reigning champion is China's first titleholder in the promotion: Zhang Weili. A deeper expansion into Asia will be a priority for the UFC, but it will find stiff competition in the form of ONE Championship.
The UFC has not enjoyed the level of success it may have hoped for in terms of cultivating Asian MMA talent. The likes of the great Kyoji Horiguchi failed to capture championship gold in the promotion, while Yushin Okami and Li Jingliang have never been more than footnotes in their divisions.
Lyoto Machida, a Brazilian of Japanese descent, was the closest to what the UFC could tout as an Asian MMA talent, until Weili, due to his Japanese ancestry and Shotokan karate background.
Dana White hasn't always had success with all of the UFC's divisions
While launching new divisions is nothing new to the UFC, Dana White has been resistant to the idea of a 165-pound weight class. He did though, bend on launching a women's featherweight division. Unfortunately, after Cris Cyborg's departure and Amanda Nunes' retirement, the division was put on ice.
Check out the UFC's removal of the women's featherweight division:
It is no longer featured on the promotion's official rankings page and is defunct. It lacked true featherweights and largely hosted bantamweights who were avoiding weight cuts.
