Quote: I’m Going To Make Cyborg Bleed
Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Justino is set to make her second appearance in the UFC’s Octagon, when she takes on the ‘Elbow Princess’ Lina Lansberg at UFC Fight Night 95.
Justino (16-1) most recently saw Octagon action for the first time under the UFC banner when she dismantled Leslie Smith via round one KO at UFC 198 this past May.
Lansberg (6-1) will make her own UFC debut against arguably the most dominant women’s mixed martial artist of all time, coming off of a second round TKO win over opponent Maria Hougaard Djursaa in March.
During a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Lansberg discussed her upcoming bout with ‘Cyborg’ and credited the Brazilian for her ability to mentally break her opponents before they even step inside of the cage:
“It’s tough for them to find opponents for Cris, and I’ve had a lot of standup fights before, so I do understand why they chose me,” Landberg said. “Of course I was familiar with her.
I know some of the others as well, but I have been following her for years in muay Thai and in MMA. I know her well.Definitely she beats opponents before they get in the cage. When she gets in there, and you see it in her last fight against (Leslie) Smith.
You saw it from the start that she was beat waking to the cage. It’s definitely the biggest reason to why she wins all the time.”
While Lansberg may be criticized by many MMA fans for not knowing what she is getting herself into with such a tall task in her UFC debut, her track record certainly speaks volumes about her ability to stand and trade with any female combatant she is thrown in against:
“I’ve been fighting muay Thai for so many years now,” Lansberg said. “I have 85 or 90 fights, many of them in the European and world championships.
I’ve fought against (Valentina) Shevchenko, who is fighting in the UFC now. I fought her in the finals of a world championship match. I’ve done it for many years, and I’ve won several gold medals in the European championship and the world championship.
“I’ve been preparing for something like this for a long time. I’ve been traveling the world to fight before, and it’s a lot of pressure, but it’s the way I want it to be. That’s the fun part as well. The bigger, the better.”
Lansberg claims that mentally she is ‘100 percent’ ready to step inside the cage with Justino, but pities ‘Cyborg’s’ current position as the one with everything to lose but nothing to gain from this contest:
“Everything is mental 100 percent,” Lansberg said. “It’s a mental game. The technique and the physics is just a small part of it. It’s the mental gave that’s most important.
I’m comfortable with that, and I work a lot mentally right now, as well, and I have for quite a while with my coach and with a psychologist. It’s a mental game.
“I’m lucky I’m not Cris in this actually because I know the feeling when you go into a fight and you have everything to lose and nothing to win really. I wouldn’t like to be her in this fight. It’s much better to be me to be the underdog and have everything to win.”
The ‘Elbow Princess’ plans to topple ‘Cyborg’ en-route to a ‘shortcut’ to the top of the UFC, and plans on utilizing her coveted elbows to bust open the ‘beatable’ Justino in order to do so:
“I love elbows,” Lansberg said. “They make everybody bleed so much, and I love that. It will be so much fun. She’s tough, and she’s going to bleed a lot. That’s why I do it. I’m going to enjoy it, and we’re going to have a good time, me and Cris.”
“This fight is absolutely a shortcut to the top, and it’s the best way possible,” Lansberg said. “She is beatable. She has beat many good names, but also a lot of names that weren’t that good, and she’s still human.
A lot of people win all the time, but everybody is beatable.”
‘Cyborg’ and Lansberg will meet in the main event of UFC Fight Night 95 live from the Nilson Nelson Gymnasium in Brasilia, Brazil on September 24, 2016.
