Tito: Cyborg jumping through every flamed hoop to hit 135
Tito Ortiz: “Cris Cyborg is jumping through every single flamed hoop that everybody is asking her to do. And she’s trying to get down to 135.
Ronda Rousey vs. Cris Cyborg would be the biggest fight in the history of women’s mixed martial arts. In fact, it could be the biggest fight in the history of MMA.
“I think that fight does two and half million PPV buys, said UFC president Dana White recentl. “I think that fight is massive.”
There is of course a barrier to the fight. It weighs just ten pounds.
“The day she makes the weight and does what she’s supposed to do, that fight is on,” said White.
At a recent Bellator MMA media day, Cyborg’s former manager and current adviser, UFC Hall of Famer and Bellator light heavyweight contender Tito Ortiz said she is trying.
“Cris is jumping through every single flamed hoop that everybody is asking her to do,” said Ortiz, as transcribed by Marc Raimondi for MMAFighting.com. “And she’s trying to get down to 135. Realistically, 140 is still a challenge for her to get down that low. She’s gonna try. She’s doing everything possible and it seems like Ronda is doing zero possible. She’s just sitting back and collecting her checks.”
“There’s a different level between Ronda, Cris and all the competition in both of their weights. Ronda smashes everybody in her weight class. Cris smashes everybody in her weight class. So why not have the two girls that smash everybody in their weight class meet at a catchweight of 140 and compete?”
“Why is she running away from Cris? She says I’ll fight any man, ‘I’ll fight Mayweather, I’ll fight Chris Weidman,’ but she’s afraid to fight Cris Cyborg. It sounds like excuses. Usually when someone is intimidated by someone and doesn’t want to fight them, they’ll find any excuse not to.”
Cris Cyborg is currently signed with the UFC, but fights for Invicta FC, where she is the champion at 145. She plans to fight down her next fight, and if successful, to challenge Rousey.
As reasonable and obvious as it is to the hardcore fanbase, the odds of Ronda Rousey, the champion, moving up to a catchweight are vanishingly thin. Cris Cyborg and her camp endlessly intoning the number 140 is not effective. Ronda Rousey is making Anderson Silva money, with more to come in Hollywood. Cris Cyborg may be the greatest female fighter in MMA history, but if she ever wants to make Anderson Silva money in this sport, she needs to get with the best nutritionists in the sport, and make the cut.