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Norma Dumont happy to see UFC finally building up women’s featherweight division
One of the top women’s MMA fighters at 145lbs, Norma Dumont is happy to see the UFC finally building up the women’s featherweight division.
Dumont defeated Aspen Ladd at UFC Vegas 40 last Saturday in a breakthrough performance that saw her emerge as one of the top fighters in the women’s 145lbs weight class. With a 3-1 UFC record and back-to-back wins at 145lbs over Ladd and Felicia Spencer, Dumont is closing in on a title shot in the weight class, which is currently held by champion Amanda Nunes. For the first time in a long time, it feels like the women’s featherweight division is actually a division, and Dumont is glad to see it.
Speaking to AG Fight in a recent interview, Dumont explained why she is excited for the future of 145lbs. According to “The Immortal,” she sees more women making the move up to the featherweight division, especially now that there is the option available for them not to cut an extreme amount of weight.
“With Aspen (Ladd) not hitting the weight, even before her fight with me, I already said, ‘Man, it’s a great name for the division.’ Because Aspen has a name, she’s an interesting athlete, she has a 9-1 record, she’s a very interesting athlete to fight in the top division. It was the third time she hasn’t hit bantamweight. She is rising, she brings grace to the division above. So, we would have today – I don’t know what Holly (Holm’s) plans are, but she’s there – Holly, me, Felicia (Spencer), Aspen, the Frenchwoman (Zarah Fairn dos Santos), and Danyelle (Wolf) who has not yet debuted. But we would already have interesting names to make interesting fights. The UFC, so far, seems to have been motivated, excited (about 145lbs), Dumont said.
“Not to mention that we are seeing, with a certain frequency, athletes from the 135 division not hitting the weight, like Ketlen Vieira, who didn’t hit the last fight, Irene Aldana, didn’t hit the last one. It may be that, over time, these athletes will have to climb as well. So, I believe the UFC saw perhaps a hope of leaving the division on its feet. And these athletes, in the future, I believe that everyone will start to climb. There’s Julija (Stoliarenko) too, who passed out on the scales not long ago. Athletes who fight little because they can’t hit the weight often need to have confidence in the 145 division to start moving up. And I think the time is now.”
Who do you want to see Norma Dumont fight next after beating Aspen Ladd at UFC Vegas 40?
