In the beginning, the UFC had one matchmaker, Rorion Gracie, who chose the opponents and matched them up, with everyone in one weight division. Eventually, Joe Silva was brought on in an advisory capacity by then owners SEG. When ZUFFA acquired the UFC, Silva was one of the few employees kept on, and became by many accounts the second most powerful person in the sport. When the number of divisions and fighters increased, Sean Shelby, who had been matchmaking for the WEC, eventually took over the UFC featherweight down divisions, for men and women.

Silva’s decades of service were rewarded with a small amount of equity in the league, and when it sold for over $4,000,000,000, that small amount ended up being reportedly worth far enough into seven figures for Silva to retire and spend more time with his family.

It is little appreciated, but matchmaking at the highest level is a brutal job. The travel is brutal. Playing guidance counselor to hundreds of professional fighters is brutal. And firing fighters is terribly, terribly sad.

That’s the worst, said Silva in 2013. It’s the absolute worst. I’ve almost quit this job multiple times because of that. People have broken down and cried.

With Silva’s impending departure, Shelby was promoted to Senior Vice President of Talent Relations. And the highly-regarded Mick Maynard, former president and owner of Texas-based Legacy Fighting Championships, was hired as Vice President of Talent Relations. However, the exact roles for the two were not revealed at the time.

Now Ariel Helwani reports for MMA Fighting that Shelby will handle his old divisions, plus two more:
•Women’s strawweight
•Women’s bantamweight
•Men’s bantamweight
•Men’s featherweight
•Men’s lightweight
•Men’s welterweight

Maynard will handle:
•Men’s flyweight
•Men’s middleweight
•Men’s light heavyweight
•Men’s heavyweight

This is a relatively small change compared to what is going on the rest of the company, with about 70 employees being let go last week, and the number of shows planned reportedly shrinking modestly. What any of it means for the fans has not been explained to date.