What ‘Cyborg’ and ‘Big Country’ taught me on Saturday night
The Simple Solution to Cris Cyborg in the UFC It is time for the UFC to implement a women’s 145-pound…
The Simple Solution to Cris Cyborg in the UFC
It is time for the UFC to implement a women’s 145-pound division. That isn’t a very controversial statement, anymore, what with the UFC’s Joe Rogan as well as many fighters calling for it after Cris Cyborg Justino’s latest catchweight victory in Brasilia.
Frankly, I’m a bit tired of having to write it, month after month, year after year. Yet, here we still are, with the UFC stubbornly refusing to recognize the obvious need for one or more women’s divisions in their ranks.
It makes sense for Cyborg, and it makes sense for the sport in general. The Brazilian is the current featherweight world champ and MMA’s longest-reigning title-holder.
She’s a draw who managed to cultivate a star’s fame and following outside of the UFC, and who is now headlining successful cards inside the promotion. Yet, the UFC has so far insisted on forcing her to go through life-threatening weight cuts to fight at the arbitrary and non-existent weight class of 140lbs in order to fight.
There is not a single fan in the world who tunes in or buys a ticket to watch Cyborg fight who wouldn’t still do it if she weighed in five pounds heavier the day prior. The UFC’s ridiculous justification for not allowing Justino to fight at 145lbs in its Octagon has seemed to be that there is not sufficient depth at featherweight.
In reality, it is as deep as any other women’s division, and certainly as deep as bantamweight was when the UFC decided to end its ban on female competitors a few years ago. The UFC’s prohibition of female featherweights is based on nothing more than the same ignorance that once had Dana White promising to never break the gender barrier and allow any woman to fight in the UFC.
With little more than a snap of the UFC’s promotional fingers, UFC fans could be watching Cyborg defend her lineal world title on the biggest stage, against women her size. All we’re getting now is an unhealthy Justino fighting undersized, unranked women.
Heck, there should be a 155lbs women’s division as well, before long. The point is, the UFC is way behind the 8-ball, right now, and it isn’t a good look.
Roy Nelson’s complicated stand
I’ve gotten a few messages from folks asking what I thought about Roy Nelson vs. John McCarthy on Saturday, after Big Country’s KO win over his friend Antonio Silva. Well, it’s complicated.
On the one hand, it is a joke that the UFC says it won’t examine the matter and it is an abomination that the promotion effectively self-regulates in foreign territories like Brazil.
It’s also a joke that the presiding pseudo commission has said it would not take action unless John McCarthy himself filed a complaint against Nelson. I don’t like any system that relies on snitches, personally.
And, besides, the incident where Nelson kicked McCarthy lightly after being upset at how long it took the referee to recognize that Silva was out, cold, and stop the fight, didn’t happen in secret, with no one watching. The UFC and the commission have all the information they need to begin an examination of what happened.
But, they don’t seem to care all that much. Reportedly, Brazil’s superior justice court of sport does, though, and are looking into it. While the whole convoluted process, laden with conflicts of interest, is a bit gross, I’ll probably be fine with an outcome that takes no sanctions against Nelson.
Why? Well, first off, I cite the schoolyard rule of no harm, no foul.
That is, McCarthy wasn’t injured. He’s a big boy and Nelson meant to humiliate him more than anything, probably.
If there was no penalty for McCarthy breaking Brian Johnston’s nose accidentally or for Dan Miragliotta poking Heath Herring in the eyes for no reason right before he fought Brock Lesnar, I’m ok with Nelson getting off here, and he and McCarthy settling things by talking to one another, now.
The other piece is that I like where Nelson’s heart seemed to be. We sometimes have occasion to talk about fighters acting violently towards opponents in the heat of the moment, after the horn. This time, we’re talking about a fighter acting in anger on behalf of his felled opponent, with disgusted compassion.
“I didn’t want to hurt ‘Bigfoot’ more than I had to,” Nelson said afterward.
“I got taken by the moment, because it’s like I’m beating the s*** out of somebody and you’re like, dude, enough is enough. And for me, it hurt my feelings.
More than anything, this incident is a reminder of the difficult position most fighters are placed in during competition. They don’t hate their opponents.
Usually, they respect them. In some cases, they actually care about their opponents, personally, as friends.
Still, they are charged with going out and doing their brutal jobs, with its final conclusions inevitable. So, even when they win, as Nelson did Saturday in Brazil, it doesn’t feel all that good.
Good fighters are often good people, torn between wanting to provide for their families and the reality that such success means taking away from someone else’s. A win means improving one’s own livelihood but it also means hurting the health and life of someone else.
Most fighters realize the subtle tragedy required in their chosen profession. There are two sides to every coin and a sad, flip-side to every thrilling victory.
About the author:
Elias Cepeda has served as a writer and editor covering mixed martial arts and combat sports, as well as public and cultural affairs, since 2005. He began as a staff writer for InsideFighting, and not long thereafter became publisher and editor of the page. Cepeda then went to write for Yahoo! Sports’ boxing and MMA pages, and edited their Cagewriter blog. He was hired away by FOX Sports, but after several years departed over philosophical differences with the executive leadership around important issues of journalism ethics. A student of and sometime competitor in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and MMA since 1999, Elias brings a unique and vibrant presence to reporting, and enjoys trying to highlight shared humanity and connect common experiences from seemingly different worlds.
We are honored that Elias is writing a weekly column for The UnderGround.