Anderson: Watching Cyborg spar Shields increased confidence
Megan Anderson: “I seen a lot more holes in her game from that footage than I saw positives.”
When Germaine de Randamie won the inaugural women’s featherweight belt, she was asked while still in the Octagon about the inevitable title defense vs. Cris Cyborg. GDR said she needed hand surgery. Then the medical issue went away for a potential rematch with Holm. And when the inevitable fight with Cyborg became inevitable, GDR left the division citing Cyborg’s past PED use.
Invicta FC Megan Anderson immediately saw an opening and began campaigning for a UFC title fight with Cris Cyborg. In time she got it. Then she pulled out citing undefined personal reasons.
The hardcore fanbase suspected visa issues and/or pregnancy. Anderson recently appeared on the Sean, Funky, and the Baddest Man podcast, and was interviewed by her teammate Joe Warren. He referenced the cause of the fight withdrawal as a logistical matter.” And while Anderson said personal means, actually, personal, she did say it was neither pregnancy nor a visa nor fear.
I understand where people are coming from, but honestly I don’t owe anyone an explanation,” she said, as transcribed by Jed Meshew for MMA Fighting. “I have personal stuff. Say if you had personal s*** you were dealing with. Would you want the whole world pressing you and forcing you to try to tell them? No, you’d probably be like, ‘F*** you guys, this is my s**t*.’
I want to make one thing clear and that’s unfortunately this is out of my control and I didn’t want to have to pull out of the fight. I was ready for that fight. I wanted that fight more than anything. I’m definitely not scared of Cris and hopefully once this stuff is kind of figured out, I want that fight back. She can say what she wants, but I’m coming for her regardless.
The speculation that fear was the cause peaked after footage was released of Cyborg sparring two-time Olympic gold medalist Claressa Shields.
The thing that pisses me off the most is people think like I’m scared when that’s far from the truth,” said Anderson. “I’ve seen that and I was even more confident going into that fight. I seen a lot more holes in her game from that footage than I saw positives. I was even more excited for the fight. It was almost like the opposite of what people said and maybe we can rematch that fight when on the card when McGregor comes back.
