The flyweight division in mixed martial arts

Mixed martial arts

Mixed Martial Arts is a full contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, including boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, judo and other styles. The roots of modern mixed martial arts can be...

 – as defined by the Nevada State Athletic Commission combat sports doctrine – groups together all competitors 125 lb

Pound (mass)

The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in the Imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement...

 (57 kg

Kilogram

The kilogram or kilogramme , also known as the kilo, is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units and is defined as being equal to the mass of the International Prototype Kilogram , which is almost exactly equal to the mass of one liter of water...

) and below. The Pancrase

Pancrase

Pancrase is a mixed martial arts promotion company founded in Japan in 1993 by professional wrestlers Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki. Pancrase is taken from Pankration, a sport in the ancient Olympic games. Suzuki and Funaki are particularly skilled in the art of catch wrestling and based the...

 flyweight division which formerly limited competitors to 128 lb (58 kg) is now revised to 125 lb (57 kg), this division is known as Bantamweight in Shooto

Shooto

Shooto is a mixed martial arts organization that is governed by the Shooto Association and the International Shooto Commission. Shooto was originally formed in 1985, as an organization and as a particular fighting system derived from shoot wrestling. Practitioners are referred to as shooters,...

 where competitors are limited to 123 lb (56 kg).

Due to the division's relative sparsity, few organizations have employed the use of a flyweight division. Some organizations, like Shooto, hold regular contests at that weight class and circulate a championship belt for that division.

On February 3, 2009, World Extreme Cagefighting

World Extreme Cagefighting

World Extreme Cagefighting was an American mixed martial arts promotion. It was purchased by Zuffa, LLC, the parent company of Ultimate Fighting Championship , in 2006. In its final incarnation, it was made up of 3 weight classes: 135, 145 and 155 lbs. To accommodate the smaller...

 (WEC) announced they would be adding a flyweight division set at 125 lb, however the division was never instituted.
When the UFC and WEC merged, UFC president Dana White indicated that the Ultimate Fighting Championship would likely add a flyweight division in the future. The UFC flyweight division is expected to debut soon, sometime in 2012 according to Dana White.

Current champions

This table is not always up to date. Last updated on July 18, 2011.

Organization	Reign Began	Champion	Record	Defenses
Shooto (123 lb) Shooto Shooto is a mixed martial arts organization that is governed by the Shooto Association and the International Shooto Commission. Shooto was originally formed in 1985, as an organization and as a particular fighting system derived from shoot wrestling. Practitioners are referred to as shooters,...	May 30, 2010	Yasuhiro Urushitani Yasuhiro Urushitani is a Japanese professional mixed martial artist. He has only been finished once, and has been consistently ranked as one of top flyweight's in the world by Sherdog's Official Mixed Martial Arts Rankings. He is known for his slick counter striking...	19-4-6 (4KO 1SUB)	1

See also

• List of current MMA Flyweight champions