Former bantamweight champion Holly Holm vs. Norma Dumont at 145 pounds is targeted for the October 16 UFC Fight Night event.
A fight between former UFC bantamweight champion Holly Holm and Norma Dumont at 145 pounds is being targeted for a UFC event on October 16. MMA Fighting was first to report the news.
Following Amanda Nunes’ sweep of the featherweight division in March, the champion herself admitted that UFC President Dana White was planning to do away with the women’s 145 pound weight class. It would seem her persistence to keep it alive has led to the promotion working outside the box to build a new challenger with the booking of Holm against Dumont.
Holm is coming off back-to-back wins for the first time since 2015 after dispatching former title challenger Raquel Pennington and Irene Aldana in 2020. The former champion was scheduled to face upcoming title challenger Juliana Pena in what would have been a high stakes bantamweight bout in May before she was forced to withdraw after being diagnosed with hydronephrosis. It will be slightly more than a year since Holm’s last fight in October of last year. Holm has fought at featherweight twice in the UFC, a loss to Germaine de Randamie for the inaugural title and a victory against future title challenger Megan Anderson in 2018.
Dumont entered the UFC in 2020 at 145 pounds where she lost her debut to the aforementioned Anderson. She subsequently moved down to bantamweight but missed weight by a wide margin of 3.5 pounds against Ashlee Evans Smith. After a bout with Bea Malecki was cancelled and a bout with Erin Blanchfield was scratched due to Dumont missing weight (139.5 again), “The Immortal” moved up for a bout with Felicia Spencer this past May where she defeated the recent title challenger. Despite her statements that she would still be looking to move back down to 135 pounds, Dumont later stated that the UFC had requested that she stay at 145 to “make things interesting.”
The women’s featherweight division has been notable since it’s inception for signing only a small handful of athletes to compete that compete in the weight class exclusively. The majority of featherweight bouts that have been contested have featured at least one fighter who primarily competes in the bantamweight division.
Currently, no main event for the October 16 card has been announced.
