Cris Cyborg Unhappy With UFC, Willing To Fight Anyone Next
UFC women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk is one win away from tying the record for the most title defense in the UFC women’s history. Now, the question remains, is she the great women’s MMA fighter of all-time? That is up for debate no doubt. You can’t downplay her dominance in the UFC.
Former Invicta featherweight champion Cris “Cyborg” Justino is arguably the best women’s fighter in the world right now. When asked about Jedrzejczyk, Cyborg, who has dominated her opponents for over a decade, doesn’t agree that Jedrzejczyk is the greatest female fighter of all-time just yet.
“Joanna is a great athlete and an example of what the UFC machine can do in terms of promotion and marketing,” Cyborg told MMA Fighting. “Of my last five fights, three were on Fight Pass. Joanna fought once on Fight Pass, was on the TV show Ultimate Fighter, and she normally fights as co-main event under fighters like (Conor) McGregor and Ronda (Rousey). You can do a lot of marketing over any athlete, but I’m the only athlete, men or women, that finished 90 percent of her fights by knockout.” Who’s the best MMA fighter of all times, I always left that for fans to decide,” she continued. “”Media can influence some fans, but the truth always appears, as it did with the American hero Ronda Rousey.””
Since Germaine de Randamie beat Holly Holm to become the inaugural UFC featherweight champion earlier this year, Cyborg has been campaigning for a fight with the champ at UFC 214 in Anaheim, CA on July 29th. However, the UFC is attempting to fight an opponent for Cyborg. In her words, she is “waiting for the UFC to find an opponent for me because they can’t put their champion in the Octagon with me.””
Cyborg celebrated the anniversary of her UFC debut last week and remains confident that she would have broken former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey’s record already if the promotion did things differently.
“My UFC debut was a year ago, but, in reality, I’ve already fought five fights on my UFC contract,” Cyborg said. “If the UFC would’ve given me my belt just like they did with Ronda Rousey, I would have broken the record of title defenses already. I’m undefeated for 10 years and I’m a world champion, to take this title someone has to defeat me.”
Although it has been reported that Cyborg would fight at UFC 214, it’s still unclear whether she will compete at the event. Despite the unknown, she is still 100 percent confident that it will happen and is will to fight anyone.
“My next step is to stay focused, training to finish my contract with the UFC,” Cyborg said. “After that, I’ll know what my next steps will be. (…) I want to finish my contract. Whoever they put in front of me, I’ll fight. I’d like to fight someone who’s ranked in my weight division, someone like Megan Anderson, but there’s no ranking anymore. To come off a win doesn’t mean you will get the opportunity to fight for the belt.”
Former title contender Cat Zingano has reportedly been an option for Cyborg at UFC 214. However, there is one problem with that, she is not interested in the bout, but it comes back to her willingness to fight anyone at any given time.
“Cat Zingano is a great athlete, she fought at 125, went to 135, (but) her last win was in 2014,” the Brazilian said. “Let’s go, I don’t pick opponents. Whoever comes.”
Cyborg made it clear that she is planning to finish out her contract when it expires in October. However, she explained that her goal is to stay in the company.
“I’d like to stay in the UFC, but working together,” Cyborg said. “I believe I deserve to be respected as an athlete because I’m a pioneer in this sport.”
