Macy Chiasson is back in the Octagon this March at UFC 235, facing Gina Mazany in a women’s bantamweight division encounter.
The undefeated Chiasson won the UFC Ultimate Fighter 28 at featherweight, but opted to drop to bantamweight after the reality show due to a meeting with Sayif Saud of Fortis MMA.
“So the plan was never to drop to 35, but when I did make the transition from New Orleans to Dallas to train with Fortis…Sayif (Saud) was like ‘you are a big athletic girl and you would be great at 45, but I really think you can get to 35. I think there is a lot of room to spare as far as like your legs go, you have a little bit of fat to lose.’ He’s like ‘I really think you could really really progress and thrive at 35,’ and when he first said that…I was like ‘really?’ Because I have never made that cut and when I was an amateur, I fought at 45 the whole time. I just never ever thought about going to 35 and he kind of ingrained it into my head and we talked about it for a little bit with some nutritionists, now we’re working with the UFC. There’s a really big light at the end of the tunnel and I really think we’re gonna do big things in this division, its gonna be a good choice,” Chiasson said in an exclusive interview with Fightful’s James Lynch.
Chiasson now enters a bantamweight division currently ruled by Amanda Nunes, who is also the current UFC Women’s Featherweight Champion.
A path to a title shot may be easier in the women’s featherweight division, but Chiasson sees more opportunity at the moment in the women’s bantamweight division.
“135 is crowded, but there is also a lot more opportunity for me there. There’s a lot more women in that division and I feel like I can really go a lot more in the 35, there’s always the potential to go back up and down (weight classes). I mean…look at what everyone else is doing, I wouldn’t say that’s the end of 45 for me. I just say that we got room to go in both divisions and work as we need to,” says Chiasson.
UFC 235 takes place on Saturday, March 2 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada with Jon Jones and Anthony Smith potentially headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
