Norma Dumont and a Quest Unchanged

Uncertainty shrouds all current Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s featherweights, as the retirement of Amanda Nunes left the weight class in a state of limbo and without a cornerstone around which to build. Nevertheless, the ambitious Norma Dumont plows forward with her career.

“What’s missing now is finding out if the UFC will permanently shut down the featherweight division,” she told Sherdog.com. “There are interesting fights there. If that indeed happens, we’ll do the necessary work to go at bantamweight and advance within the rankings. In the past, people have wanted to rank me among bantamweights, but that didn’t make sense since I’ve never made that weight. I need a final decision from the UFC so I can plan my next steps.”

Dumont will get at least one more assignment at 145 pounds, as she takes on Chelsea Chandler in a UFC on ESPN 49 women’s featherweight showcase this Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Chandler climbs into the Octagon on the back of a five-fight winning streak. The 29-year-old Stockton, California, native made her organizational debut at UFC Fight Night 211, where she buried Julija Stoliarenko with punches in the first round of their Oct. 1 confrontation. Dumont walked away less than enthused with what she saw.

“Chelsea doesn’t impress me much,” she said. “She’s only faced very low-level opposition. We’ve watched all her fights. She seems pretty average and not very athletic. Her fight IQ isn’t too high. She spins her arms around. Sometimes, she tries takedowns off the cage, but she’s not very efficient in that regard. The only good skill I saw, really, was her ground-and-pound, but I don’t see the same qualities as with the other girls I’ve fought. Her technical skills don’t seem good. Maybe she’s big and strong. She’s a lefty and likes to scrap. Maybe that’s the biggest risk, but there’s nothing that she does so well that would give me pause. She is ordinary, in my opinion.”

Dumont has reason to be self-assured. Her hit list already includes a number of high-profile names, including Felicia Spencer and Aspen Ladd. Dumont last appeared on April 22, when she laid claim to a three-round unanimous decision over Parana Vale Tudo standout Karol Rosa.

“I’ve had difficult bouts since I entered the UFC,” she said. “I fought athletes that I had been watching for some time. To have faced such high-quality opponents allowed me to feel very confident. I admired many of them and followed their careers.”

While Dumont waits for the UFC to officially announce the fate of its women’s featherweight division, her goals remain unchanged. That road now leads through Chandler.

“My plan is to win in a convincing manner and wait for the UFC to decide what’s next,” Dumont said. “They seem to be booking featherweight fights into September. I’d like to get a crack at a new featherweight belt. If the division is indeed gone, then I’ll put in the work to drop down. My main interest is capturing a belt, whether it’s as a bantamweight or featherweight.”