BKFC is shutting down its men’s flyweight division for good. Promotion president David Feldman broke the news himself in an interview with Home of Fight, and his explanation was refreshingly blunt: there aren’t enough 125-pounders to go around.
“We are actually going to do away with the 125 lbs division,” Feldman said. “We just don’t have enough competition to have a full division and be able to keep the guys busy as we want.”
The timing lines up with John Dodson, the only flyweight champion BKFC has ever had, moving up to 135 to challenge bantamweight champ Jamel Herring at BKFC 95 on Saturday, October 17. Feldman went a step further and handed Dodson the result in advance, plus the fine print.
“He doesn’t know that yet, but he will be the double champ, and then we will take it from him,” Feldman said, adding that the promotion wants to give Dodson that honor before retiring the flyweight strap.
So the plan, as the boss describes it, is for Dodson to beat Herring, hold two belts for a minute, then watch one of them go into a drawer. Herring presumably has thoughts.
How flyweight dried up
The numbers back Feldman up. Essentially Sports counted 37 fighters on BKFC’s flyweight roster against 117 at bantamweight, according to the promotion’s website. Feldman also argued that quality 125-pounders are scarce in every combat sport, and scarcer still in bare-knuckle, “because it’s a little different.”
Dodson’s title run tells the same story. The former UFC fighter won the inaugural belt in August 2023 at BKFC 48, knocking out JR Ridge in the first round. His next title fight came at BKFC 59 in March 2024, a unanimous draw with Dagoberto Aguero. That’s two title fights in the division’s entire championship history, and now he’s leaving it.
The interim title didn’t help. Andrew Strode holds it, and his most recent fight was against Gee Perez at 135 pounds, outside his own division entirely.
None of this is a total surprise. Feldman said back in July on The Fight with the Freak that the division would be “winded down.” Per Essentially Sports, this is the first time BKFC has scrapped an entire weight class. It isn’t the only promotion trimming this year, either. ONE Championship dropped its women’s strawweight MMA division in March, with roster contraction among the reasons.
What’s next
The immediate fallout lands on the January card. BKFC’s Bruise Cruise sails January 22 to 25, 2027, aboard the Norwegian Jewel from Miami to Nassau, Bahamas, with fights on the Saturday. Flyweight Gustavo Balart is already scheduled for that event with no opponent announced, and with the division going away, his fight could end up at 135. Feldman said he’ll announce the cruise main event next week.
My take: I’ll miss the little guys, but I won’t pretend this division was alive. Thirty-seven fighters, two title fights in roughly three years, and an interim champ who went up a weight class to find work. That’s a weight class in name only. Folding it into a 117-deep bantamweight pool means Dodson and Strode get real opponents instead of waiting around, and the interim belt dies with it, which is the best news in the whole announcement. The only odd part is Feldman pre-crowning Dodson before the opening bell on Saturday. Somebody should tell Jamel Herring he’s been written out of the script.
