Norma Dumont struck the 136-pound mark to make weight for a bantamweight bout for the very first time in her UFC profession, potentially clearing her course for larger matches moving on.
Dumont went up to featherweight after missing out on weight early in her UFC profession, then discovered success in the department, beating 5 of her 6 challengers. She was figured out to cut back down to 135 pounds following the dissolution of featherweight after Amanda Nunes' retirement, and now hopes UFC matchmakers can continue providing her essential battles.
To begin with, Dumont fights Germaine de Randamie this Saturday at UFC Vegas 90, inviting the previous titleholder back to the UFC after a three-and-a-half year layoff.
“The reason [other UFC contenders] had was they would not combat me at featherweight,” Dumont stated on MMA Fighting's Trocação Franca podcast. “The UFC attempted to reserve me versus Irene [Aldana] [Holly] Holm, Miesha [Tate] [Pannie] Kianzad, all these ladies, and the response was constantly the very same: We will not combat at featherweight. And we had the very same issue now, their reason was they didn't think I would make weight.”
While Dumont effectively made weight Friday in Las Vegas, she does not anticipate it to end her matchmaking problems. Dumont anticipates things to just get even worse once she beats de Randamie, therefore making her a “high-risk, low-reward” match for leading bantamweights.
“UFC currently wishes to schedule me versus top-five fighters, however they do not accept it,” Dumont stated. “Their reason is they do not believe I will make weight, however [Holly] Holm accepted battle Kayla [Harrison]Kianzad stated the exact same thing and after that consented to combat Macy [Chiasson]who didn't make weight [twice]I believe it's simply reasons. They would have accepted it if it was a simple battle.”
A win on Saturday puts Dumont on a four-fight hot streak, and the Brazilian isn't dismissing providing a difficulty to 135-pound champ Raquel Pennington after the triumph.
“The discussion we had with the UFC is that making weight and having a great efficiency, the UFC will press top-five fighters to accept this,” Dumont stated. “If they do not accept it, there's very little I can do, then provide me a title shot currently.
“I wish to defend the title,” she continued. “Pennington has the belt and she's hard, however she daunts definitely no one. Any top-five [contender] can beat her. She's not like Amanda [Nunes]who was a harder battle, so everyone wishes to put their hands on this title shot as quickly as possible. They will not stop and combat a very hard challenger who is moving down in weight and is ranked No. 11. I comprehend that, however that's not my issue. UFC needs to figure this out with them. Bring them [to me] similar to they brought Germaine.
“We had a handle the UFC that I would have combated Amanda in December at featherweight, so [I will call out] Raquel Pennington.
