Dana White: Women’s featherweight division ‘probably’ ends with Amanda Nunes’ retirement

Two-division UFC queen Amanda Nunes may go down in history as the company’s final featherweight champion.

“The Lioness” announced her retirement from the sport following a five-round beatdown of Irene Aldana to defend her bantamweight title in the main event of UFC 289, which took place Saturday night in Vancouver. Afterward, UFC president Dana White indicated that the 145-pound division could end altogether.

“The answer is probably yes,” White said at the post-fight conference when asked if the division could be closed. “I don’t make these decisions right after a fight. She told me when she walked over to the side of the cage that she was retiring. I don’t know, but it makes sense.”

The UFC has yet to make a decision on who will compete for the now-vacant women’s bantamweight championship.

The UFC opened the women’s featherweight class after signing Cris Cyborg to a deal but it was Germaine de Randamie to first hold the title in 2017. De Randamie was later stripped off the belt, and Cyborg won the gold and defended it twice before losing to Nunes.

Nunes jumped between weight classes to defend her titles multiple times since 2017, but the company never had enough featherweights under contract to build an official 145-pound rankings. The UFC even did a season of The Ultimate Fighter in the past looking for featherweights, but the majority of its competitors are no longer in the division — or under the UFC banner.