UFC president Dana White once famously said women would never fight in the UFC. He later said bringing in women was the best decision he ever made. It began with Ronda Rousey, and she was given the belt when the UFC acquired Strikeforce. They say the belt doesn’t count until you defend it; that is certainly true if you get it without a fight.

But Ronda won and won and won and won and won and won. Then she lost twice, and is gone, rich. The UFC had quickly built a division around her. That worked out so well the UFC acquired the entire straweight division from Invicta FC, added some new fighters, and crowned the champion during a season of TUF.

The UFC created a women’s featherweight division when it became clear the Cris Cyborg could not ever make 135 for a showdown with Rousey, and that Rousey was beatable. Then Justino needed a break from the intense cuts, and had an anti-doping test flagged. The UFC moved on with the plans for 145 without her.

On Saturday in the main event of UFC 208, Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie will fight for the inaugural UFC women’s featherweight belt. There is no division yet however. Still, during a recent media call, Holm expressed great confidence that a robust division would soon materialize.

Here’s the thing – each division has to start somewhere,” said Holm, as transcribed by Tristen Critchfield for Sherdog. “And when they first started 135-pound division it was a title fight with Ronda coming over. It built from there, Holm said during a recent conference call.

And I know that right now this is part of the division. But there’s so many girls that want the opportunity, I can guarantee you they can build this division in no time. They just have to make some phone calls. Because there’s a lot of girls out there that are very tough. And everybody’s goal is to be in the UFC. That’s the big thing. So, I don’t know. I feel like yes, it’s just the start of it. But it’s got to start somewhere.

I think that they’re just going to start here but I know they’re going to be finding girls. I know they’re already talking to other girls. …And then again obviously, we’re the fighters. They’re promotion so, I’ll leave it up to them to do that. That’s what they do.