Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino could well be the most feared woman in all of mixed martial arts, but while she’s known for leaving a trail of destruction in her wake, she’s not always had it her own way.
The one and only loss of ‘Cyborg’s’ 17-fight MMA career came in her very first professional bout back in 2005 against another newcomer Erica Paes at ‘Show Fights 2’ in Curitiba, Brazil.
‘Cyborg’ was 19 years old at the time and had only been training MMA for six months at the legendary ‘Chute Boxe’ gym. Despite her inexperience she showed an early glimpse of her naturally aggressive fighting style with ground and pound strikes in the opening minute of the fight.
It wasn’t long before Paes was able to expose weaknesses in her still developing ground game though, and ‘Cyborg’ tapped out just 1:46 into the fight due to what appeared to be a rare double kneebar submission.
However, there was more to this future star’s infamous loss than meets the eye.
Years later, a member of ‘Cyborg’s’ camp, Ivan Canelo revealed on the bloodyelbow.com website that the real reason she tapped out was that she had suffered a dislocated elbow prior to the submission.
The moment she was injured can be seen at 1.24mins in the video as she tries to break a fall with her left arm. She can then be seen grimacing in pain and apparently unable to use that same arm seconds later after being taken down, which left her unable to continue.
According to Canelo, after receiving medical attention ‘Cyborg’ returned to the ring to ask for a rematch with Paes at a later date, but the fight never materialized.
Undeterred by this disappointing start to her career, ‘Cyborg’ would go on to compile an impressive winning record and earned a fearsome reputation due to her size, strength and power which resulted in many of her victories coming via TKO.
In her most famous fight to date she demolished Gina Carano in a single round to win the Strikeforce featherweight title and then defended the belt three times before being stripped of the belt following a positive steroid test.
After serving her year-long suspension ‘Cyborg’ picked up where she left off in the all-female promotion Invicta FC, becoming their 145lb champion and extending her career record to 15-1 (+1nc).
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’Cyborg’ has campaigned for many years to fight in the UFC, and the 30 year-old was recently granted her chance to compete on the sport’s biggest stage against Leslie Smith at UFC 198, right back where her career began in Curitiba, Brazil.
