Macy Chiasson having fun at featherweight, but bantamweight still in the mix

PHOENIX – At UFC 274, Macy Chiasson picked up her first featherweight win since she won “The Ultimate Fighter.” Now she hopes that weight class can finally start growing.

Chiasson (8-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) took a split decision from Norma Dumont (7-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) in Phoenix. It was her first win at 145 pounds since she beat Pannie Kianzad to win “TUF” in November 2018. After that, she moved down to bantamweight, where she went 4-1.

This past December, she went back to featherweight, but was submitted by Raquel Pennington. Now that she has a win under her belt again in the division, she thinks she may be able to bounce between the two weight classes.

“I feel great,” Chiasson said at her post-fight news conference. “I’m loving fighting at ’45 and ’35, so we’ll see what we’re going to do. I really wanted to come into ’45 and stir things up, so we’ll see what we’ll catch.”

Chiasson thinks with the women’s featherweight division as sparse as it is with fighters, she might not be that far away from a title fight with champion Amanda Nunes. Nunes will try to recapture the women’s bantamweight title against Julianna Peña later this year, but eventually has to think about her featherweight belt, too.

“Norma was on a three-fight win streak and she pretty much smashed the last few girls that she’s gone against,” Chiasson said. “If Amanda wants to fight at ’45, I’m here. I’m willing to get ready for that fight. ’35 is still in the mix, but I’m having fun at ’45. I get to strength-train a lot. I get to train 24/7 and fuel my body.

“It’s crazy, because there are a lot of girls who fight at ’35 who really could go up and fight at ’45. A bunch of us could go up and down. There are a lot of girls who have a tough time to make ’35 that could be true ’45ers. … It’s still slim pickings, so we’ve just got to grow it.”

Chiasson had only two pro fights before she went on “The Ultimate Fighter,” so the majority of her pro career has been at the highest level in the UFC. She said that level of competition at such an early point in her MMA tenure has done wonders.

Now she’s ready to be one of the ones giving problems to new fighters.

“Growing up in the UFC is like jumping into open water full of sharks and hoping not to get bit,” Chiasson said. “But you’re going to get bit, so it’s like, you’re already going in, so now I just need to become that shark and just swim with them. I feel like I’m getting there – I feel like I’m that shark. I’m going to be that great white.”

Check out Chiasson’s full interview in the video above.