UFC 210 winner Katlyn Chookagian says UFC needs to view women's divisions differently

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Three fights into her UFC career, Katlyn Chookagian is still waiting for the organization to open a women’s flyweight division so she can compete at her fullest potential.

Chookagian (9-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) earned a split-decision victory over bantamweight Irene Aldana (7-4 MMA, 0-2 UFC) on Saturday’s UFC 210 preliminary card at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, N.Y. The performance, which was part of the UFC Fight Pass portion of the card, moved her octagon record above .500, but Chookagian knows she’s yet to have a fight under ideal circumstances.

The 28-year-old is one of many female fighters under UFC contract who’s eager to fight at 125 pounds. Unfortunately, UFC brass appears reluctant to open that division. Chookagian, though, said it would be in the promotion’s best interest.

“My natural weight to fight at would be 125 (pounds),” Chookagian said after UFC 210. “If they open up a flyweight (division), that would be perfect. I think it would be a good division to add. You could have a lot more super fights.

“I think they should look at the women’s divisions a little differently than they look at the men’s. There’s going to be a lot of girls fighting in two divisions. Now that I’ve fought at 135, I’m a little comfortable there. I could fight at both.”

Although Chookagian has won two of her three UFC fights, she said she hasn’t showed her best. All of her bouts have been tightly contested, and the Aldana fight was no different. Chookagian said she deserved the victory over Aldana but admitted the size and strength of her opponent made the execution of her gameplan challenging.

“I felt like I won,” Chookagian said. “I thought I won every round. I try not to game plan too specific because you never know what’s going to happen, but I was confident standing, on the ground, had been working a lot on my wrestling. So I was trying to go for the takedown a lot just because that’s what I’ve been working on. I wanted to prove that.”

The UFC currently hosts three women’s divisions – at 145, 135 and 115 pounds. The gap at 125 pounds seems like it’ll be filled eventually, but there’s no immediate plan. Chookagian hopes that changes.

“There would be a lot of really good matchups, and there wouldn’t be any girls suffering to go down,” Chookagian said. “There wouldn’t be girls like myself that are giving up a size disadvantage.”

For complete coverage of UFC 210, check out the UFC Events section of the site.