Cris Cyborg Details Plan To Make 135 Pounds, Seeks Bouts With Both Gina Carano & Ronda Rousey
The ‘drama’ surrounding UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey’s next opponent is fitting to the trend of the renowned WMMA pioneer and her exploits. A season on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ saw ‘Rowdy’ in full thespian mode, and her pre fight trash talk has proven to be one of Rousey’s many trademarks.
A lot of media attention has been spent on speculating on a battle between Rousey and longtime foe Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino. The two have been involved in a war of words for some time now, with Cyborg very nearly signing for the UFC, before manager Tito Ortiz declared that she would not make 135 pounds. According to an interview with Fox Sports, Justinio feels that she can now make the weight:
“Before, when I go to the doctor he said you can’t drop more than three times because it’s not healthy. I know it’s not healthy,” Cyborg said. “I walk around at 160 and I have a lot of muscle, and I need to lose muscle. This is the first time I put my mind to it and think I can. I have the support with the people behind me, I have dieting people and I have my team and we can do this. I want to make 135 but I want to keep my size.”
So the talk of a catchweight fight with Rousey, or not being able to make 135 has become old hat. With Ortiz no longer in town, it seems that Cyborg may be once again targeting her sights on joining the UFC. A failed drugs test while serving as Strikeforce champion in 2011 is the only real smudge on Justino’s application.
“”The first time I drop to 135 I’ll fight in Invicta, and everything else will happen after that is a consequence. My focus isn’t only on her,” Cyborg said about Rousey. “My focus is on my next fight in Muay Thai and then fight in Invicta at 135 first, and after that is the consequence. This fight against Ronda is very important because everybody wants to watch and for sure I want to fight her. Because she’s always talking about me, wanting to fight me, well let’s go. I’ll be ready.””
In reality, and also according to Dana White & ‘Rowdy’, Cyborg will need to make 135 pounds and win a few fights there. At the least, the outcome is looking slightly promising for fans that want to see Rousey vs. Justino, but who is there out there to keep Cris warm (aside from cans)?
Cyborg did have one fighter in mind:
“I respect Gina (Carano), Gina’s a very nice girl, a very respectful girl, she’s a very good fighter but (Ronda) spoke a lot of stuff about me. I love fighting, if I fight her I will keep fighting, I’m not a fake fighter, and if I fight her maybe she’ll stop fighting and not want to fight anymore. I know one thing I have inside my heart, I’m a true fighter. If I fight her, I don’t know, maybe she won’t fight anymore.”
“I think it’s great because when I fought her, she has a lot of fans follow her and this is very good for women’s MMA,” Cyborg said. “I’m not selfish, I think she’s very good and she’s got good Muay Thai and she has a lot of fans follow her. She’s good for women’s MMA. I want her to come back. It’s good for all of those that like to watch her.”
Cyborg beat Gina Carano in pretty convincing fashion back in 2009; brutalizing ‘Crush’ for one round before she was unable to continue. The loss was the first of Caran’s pro career, and also he last fight to date. Now becoming more famous as a movie star, would it even be worth her returning to fight Cyborg? In men’s terms, this is some Alistair Overeem calling out Brock Lesnar at UFC 169 type shit.
