When The UFC Killed Off The Lightweight Division

It's hard to believe now but the UFC's lightweight division, you know a division that's featured the likes of Conor McGregor, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Tony Ferguson, Justin Gaethje, Max Holloway, BJ Penn and a litany of others actually got booted from the UFC at one point. Following a series of unfortunate events, the UFC got rid of the whole division. So what happened? And how did it get back to the UFC in the end anyway?