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“MALE CHAMPIONS” (BY WEIGHT CLASS)
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*WIKILINK OF ‘CURRENT UFC CHAMPIONS’*
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(‘ultimate fighting championship’ (‘UFC’) champions are ‘fighters’ who have won ‘UFC championships’)
(at the time of the UFC’s inception in ‘1993’, ‘mixed martial arts’ was ‘unsanctioned’ in the ‘united states’, and did not include ‘weight classes’)
(instead of the traditional “championship model”, the ‘UFC’ held ‘tournaments’ with the ‘winner’ receiving a permanent ‘appellation’)
(in response to criticism from “senator john mccain” that saw the loss of its ‘television deal’ and the banning of the sport in 36 states, the ‘UFC’ increased its cooperation with ‘state athletic commissions’ and introduced ‘weight classes’ in 1997, starting with “UFC 12”, and began introducing “weight-specific titles”)
(‘grumpy old man’ mccain raining on somebody else’s parade (yet) AGAIN)
(“along came obama…”)
(“listen john…and you listen good…we’re about to send you BACK to ‘nam if you keep up this regressive shenanigans…”)
(the original ‘codification’ for ‘weight classes’ introduced only 2 divisions: ‘heavyweight’, which grouped together all competitors above ‘200 pounds’ (aka ’91 kg’), and ‘lightweight’, which encompassed all competitors ‘199 pounds’ (aka ’90 kg’) and under)
(at “UFC 14” the ‘lightweight division’ would be renamed to ‘middleweight’, though it would still encompass all fighters ‘199 pounds’ (aka ’90 kg’) and under)
(the ‘lightweight’ moniker would later return at “UFC 16” with a new division consisting of those competitors ‘170 pounds’ (77 kg) and under)
(2 years later a fourth weight class, the “bantamweight division”, arrived at “UFC 26” and included all fighters ‘155 pounds’ (70 kg) and under)
(in 2000, the “new jersey state athletic control board” completely took over ‘MMA regulation’ in its home state and developed new ‘rules’ and ‘weight classes’ that eventually became the de facto rule set for all ‘mixed martial arts’)
(the UFC realigned their ‘weight classes’ to comply with these new regulations in ‘2001’, beginning with ‘UFC 31’)
(at the time, this brought the total # of ‘active divisions’ in the ‘UFC’ to ‘5’:
“LIGHTWEIGHT”
“WELTERWEIGHT”
“MIDDLEWEIGHT”
“LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT”
“HEAVYWEIGHT”
(it would be nearly 10 years before the ‘UFC’ would expand their divisional offerings to include any of the ‘lower weight classes’)
(the first additions came in ‘late 2010’ when the ‘UFC’ merged with their sister organization “world extreme cagefighting”)
(due to the WEC’s focus on ‘lighter weight fighters’, this merger necessitated the addition of both the ‘featherweight’ and ‘bantamweight’ divisions to the ‘UFC’, starting with the ‘TUF 12’ finale)
(in ‘early 2012’ the ‘UFC’ decided they would delve even further into the ‘lower weight classes’ when they announced the introduction of the ‘flyweight division’ to their ranks, beginning with ‘UFC’ on ‘FX 2’)
(in “november 2012”, as a result of the forthcoming dissolution of their sister organization ‘strikeforce’, the UFC announced they would be adding ‘female fighters’ to their roster for the first time in the promotion’s history)
(initially, only the “women’s bantamweight division” was brought over, with the division’s premiere bout taking place at ‘UFC 157’)
(a little over a year later the ‘UFC’ announced they would be expanding their ‘weight classes’ for ‘female fighters’ with the addition of a “women’s straw-weight division”, the first bout took place at “UFC Fight Night: ‘cerrone’ vs. ‘miller'”)
(then, in ‘late 2016’ a ‘featherweight division’ was introduced for the women with the first fight to be for the ‘featherweight championship at “UFC 208 in (‘brooklyn’ / ‘new york’) on ’11 february 2017′)
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(***BACK TO “THE ‘UFC’”***)
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