Joseph Benavidez
Benavidez, McCall, Johnson vie for 125-pound belt
TORONTO – The UFC will debut their long-awaited flyweight division in March with a four-man tournament to determine the first champion.
UFC President Dana White made the announcement on Saturday night.
The tournament will feature two first-round battles: Demetrious Johnson meets Ian McCall and Joseph Benavidez faces Yasuhiro Urushitani. The winners move on to battle for the flyweight championship. The first round of the tournament will take place March 3 in Sydney, Australia at UFC on FX 2.
McCall is widely considered the best flyweight in the world and is riding a four-fight winning streak. He was the Tachi Palace Fights flyweight champion before signing with the UFC at some point in the last two weeks.
Benavidez and Johnson will both drop from bantamweight and are widely considered to be top flyweight contenders.