The Odd Pair Out
The UFC women’s strawweight division was introduced rather strangely. Foregoing the traditional division-building method of slowly luring top talent away from other organizations, Zuffa LLC opted to absorb many of Invicta FC’s top 115-pound talent and injected them into their reality TV talent farm, The Ultimate Fighter. This time there was a twist: the winner of the show’s finale would immediately be crowned champion of the new division. When all was said and done, incumbent Invicta FC champion Carla Esparza won the belt. But for those paying attention, this crowning felt a little empty.