Cunning Plan

Every so often the Universe gets things right.

You see, the UFC decided to get rid of the mens Flyweight division. This all seems to be some great idea of headman Dana White.

Standard wisdom states that smaller fighters generate the least interest, and therefore the least money. Maybe it’s true, and maybe it isn’t.

If shutting down the division is a smart business decision, wouldn’t the right thing be to announce that publicly, and above board. That isn’t really Dana White’s way. He is one of those guys who thinks he can manipulate the fans’ reactions the way he wants.

Cutting the division would be controversial, and some fans would get really angry about it. That translates into less profit.

Why would fans care, especially if it is the least popular division?

Well, the Champion at that weight was Demetrius Johnson. He won the belt back in 2012, and had an undefeated string of 12 championship victories. This made him by far the very best fighter that the UFC had.

How do you delete the division that has the best fighter.

Then, last August, Johnson lost to Henry Cejudo, and promptly left the UFC to fight for another organization. That’s when Dana White and the UFC made their move against the Flyweights. They started terminating fighter contracts all over the place.

There was some fan kickback, and that’s when Dana White’s “brilliant” plan to quash the discontent arose. Why not prove that the Flyweights were irrelevant by proving that the real best small fighter was actually the champion from the next bigger division.

The guy there, Dillashaw, is one of Dana White’s Golden Boys. He is excellent in every area of the game, and had just recently twice defeated another of White’s Golden Boys in a pair of superfights.

The plan was, Dillashaw would challenge Cejudo for Cejudo’s Flyweight belt, win, and then return to fighting at his usual weight but with two Champions’ belts in his trophy cabinet.

Then the UFC would officially terminate the Flyweights altogether.

It seemed likely to go exactly as Dana White wanted, and for a change the Golden Boy of his choosing is actually a wonderful fighter, unlike most of White’s favourites.

So it all got set up, with the fate of a division being left in the fighter’s hands.

The problem with the plan is that Dana White is nowhere as smart as he thinks he is.

If it all went exactly as expected, Dana White would get his way, and feel smart as the dickens. The problem was, what if the outcome went another way? What if Cejudo not only managed to beat Dillashaw, but beat him in a way that demonstrated total dominance?” Would that not return to the way things seemed when Demetrius Johnson ruled the Flyweight division; that the smallest Champ was perhaps the best fighter in the entire organization.

Round one started, and then ended 32 seconds later when the referee stepped in to save Dillashaw from serious injury. Flyweight Champion Henry Cejudo had not only crushed his much larger opponent, but also totally overturned Dana White’s cunning plan.

Immediately after the fight, Dana was in the ring waiting to award the winner with a new belt, and seemed far less than pleased with the outcome. He seemed more put out by Dillashaw’s loss than did Dillashaw himself.

Thank you, Universe.