‘UFC Fans Are Ruthless!’

Macy Chiasson is returning to what has been her primary division, Bantamweight, in her Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) career thus far, but still wants to bounce around.

The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 28 Featherweight winner immediately made her 135 pound debut after her first promotional appearance and victory against Pannie Kianzad in Nov. 2018. Chiasson returned to Featherweight for her last two outings, however. Despite dropping back down for a pivotal clash with Irene Aldana this weekend (Sat., Sept. 10, 2022) at UFC 279, she wants to see others join her in competing at both weights.

“I don’t know if it’s like a stigma for women,” Chiasson said at UFC 279 media day (h/t MMA Junkie). “145 pounds, I know the UFC fans are ruthless when it comes to that s—t. I’m not even gonna say just guys, a lot of people will be like, ‘Oh, I don’t want to see these girls fight, they’re too big,’ blah, blah, blah. I’m like, okay, well, I went to a Dallas Wings game a few weeks ago and watched these women play basketball and the smallest girl on their team was 170, 5-foot-10. I couldn’t even tell because all the girls on the team are so big and athletic.

“There’s definitely some people that should not be fighting in a certain weight class, right?” she continued. “Athletically, peak performance-wise, I think most of these women could be fighting up and down easily. And I think most of these women look good. They look like athletes. I don’t know why most of us need to be ‘this big’ to fight or get people to watch.”

For Chiasson, she’s in that unique spot of presumably being able to have a potential title shot at either weight thanks to Amanda Nunes being the champion of both divisions. A win over the No. 4-ranked Aldana at UFC 279 would certainly launch her from her No. 10 spot right into the top contender conversation.

Ultimately, just staying active would be ideal for the Fortis MMA product.

“I think there are opportunities in both weight classes, and I’m waiting for people to realize that,” Chiasson said. “There are a lot of girls who fight at ’35 who definitely could fight at ’45. Why don’t we fight up and down? What’s the problem with that? … I think it’d be fun. What’s at stake? I just want to fight as much as I can, and ’35 was the best opportunity for me.”

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Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 279 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance on ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

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