Bellator MMA will have at least two female champions by the end of 2017.
Currently, the promotion has no female titleholders, but that's expected to change March 3. A scheduled bout between Marloes Coenen and Julia Budd will determine the inaugural featherweight champion.
In addition, Bellator MMA president Scott Coker says the promotion intends to book a women's 125-pound flyweight title fight at some point this year. Bellator also plans to fill its vacant men's heavyweight title.
"That's going to be something that happens in 2017," Coker told ESPN.com. "All of our titles will be filled by the end of the year."
The landscape of women's mixed martial arts has drastically changed in recent months. The UFC has also announced the formation of a 145-pound featherweight division, and the first UFC female featherweight champion will be crowned at UFC 208 on Feb. 11, in a fight between Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie. Once that happens, the UFC will be promoting three female weight classes.
Invicta FC, an all-female promotion, has a scheduled interim featherweight fight between Megan Anderson and Charmaine Tweet on Jan. 14.
Bellator MMA comes into 2017 with two female weight classes. According to Coker, the decision to create a featherweight championship in March was an easy one, and he said he expects the weight class to grow.
"We feel good about booking that title fight," Coker said. "These are the best 145-pound fighters in our company, and we'll see them throw down. Then we'll bring in other girls to fight the winner.
"We continue to look all over the world for the next girls at 145 pounds. It's easier to find them at 125 pounds, but we just signed a girl from Ireland [Sinead Kavanagh] that fights at 145, and we're looking at a few who are coming out of Sweden and Italy. We'll find the best 145-pounders and let them compete."
Bellator's heavyweight title has remained vacant since the company stripped former champion Vitaly Minakov because of inactivity. The last Bellator heavyweight title fight occurred in April 2014.
According to Coker, there were tentative plans for a heavyweight tournament in 2017, before the promotion brought in Russian icon Fedor Emelianenko. A heavyweight tournament remains a possibility this summer.