The greatest fighter in women’s MMA history, Invicta FC featherweight champion Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino made her UFC debut on May 14 at UFC 198 in her hometown of Curitiba, Brazil. Leslie Smith gamely stepped up, and was beaten down in 81 seconds.
Cyborg fights primarily for Invicta, but her contract is with the UFC. The world’s dominant league had planned for Cyborg to gradually drop to 135 for a fight with the then seemingly unbeatable Ronda Rousey. However, Cyborg has announced 140 is as low as she will ever go, and Rousey in fact human proved to be human.
That doesn’t mean Cyborg doesn’t still want to fight Rousey, at a catchweight. Rousey has long said as champion, the challenger had to come to her, and make 135. But of course, Ronda Rousey is no longer champion. Even if Rousey is intent solely on regaining her belt, and not on being half of the biggest fight in WMMA history, a Cyborg fight might make sense – losing would have no effect on her title aspirations.
Cyborg even has the event, place, and date picked out:
UFC 205
Madison Square Garden, New York city, New York
12 November 2016
And Cyborg is getting inventive in her call outs.
So what do you say Ronda?!
For her part, Rousey is not saying much of anything, comparatively speaking. In 2015, she was the third most searched person on Google. However, the media exposure that resulted in that extraordinary fan response came at a steep cost.
Media responsibilities seem from the outside like trivialities, but they are a challenging reality at the highest echelon of mixed martial arts. Fighters speak of the forbidding challenge of a UFC debut, and hearing the roar of the massive crowd for the first time. Likewise with media duties. So at present, Rousey is largely taking a deserved rest.
When she returns, hopefully it is against Cris Cyborg at UFC 205. If she wins, she is bigger than any title. And if he loses, she can go right back after whoever the current UFC women’s bantamweight champion is.
Sounds like a good deal, to someone who doesn’t have to fight Cris Cyborg.
