Coming in with the second installment of this series will be women's flyweight. This is probably the least interesting women's division that is an actual division within the UFC. It's kind of hard to do intros for these posts since everything is covered within. Let's just jump into it.
Champion - Valentina Shevchenko
Valentina is cemented as the best women's fighter in the UFC right now and that was a conversation that I was willing to have even before Amanda Nunes lost. With that loss, I think it is clear that Shevchenko is the number one P4P and has been consistently dominant for quite a few fights in awhile now. Other than when she moves up to fight Amanda, there isn't much competition for her. Obviously, Julianna Pena has earned the right to be mentioned in this conversation as well, but we'll see if she still has the title after the Nunes rematch before we get too far ahead of things. Shevchenko has found a way to be dominant over all of her competition not only in the stand up, but in the grappling as well. She seems as unstoppable as anyone in MMA right now.
Next Challenger - Taila Santos
Santos should be the next woman to challenge Valentina for her 125 lbs title. It's possible that we see Valentina move up to try her hand at double champ status before this, but the timelines are a little unclear. We could see Santos need one more win before she gets Shevchenko in which case we could see Valentina move up before she defends at flyweight again. Santos is clearly the best fighter who hasn't fought Shevchenko yet, so that's her main argument to the title shot and she's on a nice looking win streak on top of it.
Contenders - Jennifer Maia, Katyln Chookagian, and Jessica Andrade
These all represent rematches for Valentina, but she hasn't really done many rematches yet and I don't think any of these women represent a pushover. We saw Maia win a round over Shevchenko in their first fight, which is as much resistance as we've seen her face other than when she fights Amanda Nunes. Chookagian is always a problem for fighters with her reach advantage and how she utilizes her movment, but this is admittedly the least interesting matchup. Andrade posed a lot of things that I found very interesting in the lead up to their first fight. Of course none of the things that I thought gave Andrade a chance showed themselves to be even an issue, but still. Andrade's strength, power, and physicality is enough of a reason to give her a rematch as anyone that is on this list. The main thing for all of these women is that they need to get back in the cage and get a winning streak together in order to really justify them appearing in a title fight again.
Up and Comers - Viviane Araujo and Alexa Grasso
Araujo is in sort of a weird place. She's coming off of a loss to Chookagian, so she's probably not going to jump any of those 3 in the previous category, but to list her as an "up and comer" despite being ranked 6 seems a little weird. She's probably multiple fights away from a title fight, so I put her here, but I guess you can switch her if you really want to. Araujo was on a good run up until her loss and a win would have likely put her into a title fight. Instead, she'll be fighting Alexa Grasso next. Grasso is on a pretty nice two fight win streak and a win over Araujo puts her in the top 6, likely one more win away from her own title shot. Her skills looked especially impressive against Maycee Barber her last time out.
Wild Cards - Zhang Weili and Joanna Jedrzejczyk
I kind of gave these two their own category just because they're both coming from other divisions. We've seen Joanna fight and lose to Valentina before and she's only 1-1 since, but she provides a name and would be as interesting a fight as anyone I've listed to this point after Taila Santos gets the shot she's earned. Weili is in a similar position to Jedrzejczyk in that we recognize them as great fighters, but both have already lost to strawweight champion Rose Namajunas twice. Their path back to a title shot at 115 is pretty cloudy, but a title shot at 125 is much more clear. Weili is plenty big enough to move up and her history probably gives her the best resume to fight Valentina next over everyone except Santos at this point. I would honestly be surprised if we don't see Weili move up and get one fight inside the top 5 at flyweight before she fights for the title. This would be a similar path to the one taken by Jessica Andrade when she defeated Chookagian before getting her own crack at Shevchenko.
Prospects - Maycee Barber, Manon Fiorot, Casey O'Neill, and Tracy Cortez
I can already hear people being mad that Maycee Barber is listed here, but whatever man. She's still plenty young enough and talented enough for her to put it together and make a run. She probably won't find herself in a title fight this year unless Valentina fights 4 times and even then, it's a long shot, but 2023 could be the year she finally finds herself in that position. If Shevchenko continues her reign of dominance over this division, it's not impossible that anyone in the top 15 is more than 3 consecutive wins away from a title shot. Fiorot has shown some serious skills that I think she could actually find herself in a title fight a little sooner than anyone else in this category. We'll see what she looks like against some of the tougher women that 125 has to offer, but her striking has looked more than legitimate so far. She's at 14 now and could easily see herself into the top 5 before this year is done. O'Neill just found herself into the rankings, so maybe she's more on Barber's timeline of not seeing a title shot until 2023, even if everything goes her way, but she might be the most well rounded of the fighters on this list. She doesn't have an amazing resume of opponents just yet, but she passes the eye test and she'll be getting those tough tests very soon. I think we may even see her fight Barber before too long and I think I would favor Casey O'Neill in that bout. She has the most questions surrounding her, but her upside could lead her straight to the top. I included Tracy Cortez here because I think she's being over looked and prospects really are supposed to be outside the rankings, but some of these thinner divisions are tough. I like what I've seen from Cortez in large part. She lost her first career fight and is undefeated in her 9 fights since. I don't think she has a show stopping skillset by any means, but I think she is more than talented enough to end up making a good run into the rankings in 2022 and who knows how far she can take it. She has more clear developing to do than the other 3 in this category, but with Brian Ortega on her side, I trust that she'll be working on some submissions at the very least. If she can get her activity levels up in the coming years, she could be a fast riser towards the top.
That's my look ahead for this year at women's flyweight. A lot of things are sort of up in the air. It seems like Taila Santos is the most obvious candidate for the next title shot, but beyond that, it's hard to say. There's potential rematches for Valentina and there's also fighters who can move up from 115 if necessary. Obviously, Valentina could lose to Santos and anything beyond that is all for not, but there still has to be a future of the division. What do you guys think? Who would you want to see get the next shot after Santos? Where does Zhang Weili fit if she decides to move up? Can Viviane Araujo and Alexa Grasso make a push? Which younger unproven fighter will we be talking about as a contender this time next year? Can Maycee Barber finally realize her potential? Or will she be passed over by the likes of Manon Fiorot, Tracey Cortez, and Casey O'Neill? Leave any and all thoughts below and thanks for reading. Have a good one.
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