UFC confirms 125 pound women’s flyweight division, first champ to be crowned on ‘The Ultimate Fighter 26’

A women's 125 pound flyweight division has officially been added to the UFC.

The UFC let the cat out of the bag last week when a fully composed press release on the new division was accidentally sent to members of the press. Hours later, Dana White said the new women's weightclass wasn't official yet, leaving everyone scratching their heads wondering just how thought out plans for this new weightclass were.

But now it's really official, care of ESPNW: the UFC is adding a 125 pound women's division, and they're going to stock the roster through season 26 of The Ultimate Fighter -- the first season of The Ultimate Fighter to feature female fighters exclusively. The winner of the reality TV tournament doesn't just become 'the next Ultimate Fighter' ... they also become the inaugural women's flyweight champion. A premiere date has yet to be announced for the show.

There's been a lot of female fighters clamoring for the UFC to add another weight class between the 115 pound strawweight division and the 135 pound bantamweight division. Too many athletes found themselves stuck in between, either ending up the smaller bantamweight or performing dangerous weight cuts to hit 115. And while Dana White was steadfast in saying there were no pending plans to add 125, he also used to say women would never fight in the UFC at all. So we're okay with these particular flip flops.

"There are a lot of 125-pound women out there fighting already," White said through ESPN. "Now they'll get the opportunity to fight in the UFC. We'll have four women's divisions, and as far as I'm concerned we can't have enough."

This is the second women's division added to the UFC in 2017, the first being the 145 pound featherweight division in February. But that division is currently in chaos with reports champion Germaine De Randamie may abdicate her title and P4P best female fighter Cris Cyborg threatening to ditch the UFC if she can't compete for the title soon.

Hopefully the 125 pound division won’t see similar problems, and considering the women's 135 pound division was developed the same way over two seasons of TUF, we expect this new flyweight division to be ram packed with some great talent by the end of 2017.