Ronda Rousey was victorious at UFC 170 with another first-round stoppage. This time she won by TKO with a beautifully timed knee to the liver that floored No. 3-ranked Sara McMann.
McMann dropped to an all-fours position, and Herb Dean stepped in to save her from further punishment. Almost immediately following the fight, the name Cris “Cyborg” Justino cropped up as a potential challenger for Rousey’s belt.
Cyborg herself tweeted post-fight trying to get the fight.
That is complete nonsense, and the MMA community needs to stop helping promote the foolishness.
The fight may happen, but it will not happen anytime soon. Until then, the focus should be on the current UFC bantamweights who are working their way up the ladder.
There are a lot of hurdles for this fight to happen. The first—and biggest—is that Justino is not even in the bantamweight division. She is a featherweight, and in spite of her recent comments to Inside MMA about trying to drop to 135 she has never proven the ability to do so.
All I’m promising is that I will give 100 percent to try to get to 135 to make this plan happen. If I do, I will still listen to my doctor’s advice and fight no more than three times at 135: first to win the Invicta belt, the second time to kick your ass and the third time to kick your ass again so that the world can see it wasn’t luck.
You can even have me tested every week up to the fight. That way you will not have an excuse after I kick your ass.
Should she be given Rousey immediately with no proof she can make the weight? Absolutely not. That would damage the UFC brand to do so.
Cyborg has even missed weight at featherweight. She came in seven pounds overweight for her fight against Hitomi Akano back in 2009. She has not missed weight since then, but again, this has all been at featherweight.
There is yet another reason to not give Cris Cyborg this fight.
UFC President Dana White just recently went on a tirade at UFC headquarters about PED usage and Cyborg. She tested positive back in 2011 which was only three fights ago for her. How would it look for the UFC, which has taken a public stance against those who test positive, to sign someone for a marquee bout right out of the chute?
It is utter nonsense.
Cyborg also stated in the Inside MMA interview that she will “fight no more than three times at 135.” Why would the UFC bring her in for a title fight only to immediately drop the title? That makes no sense. The UFC isn’t protecting Rousey from Cyborg, but it will protect the title and division from being damaged from someone who plans to up and leave.
At the post-fight press conference, White opened the door to the only way this fight makes any sense. He said that Cyborg needs to make weight a couple of times outside of the UFC at bantamweight and prove that she can make the cut without damaging her health.
Given the current landscape of women’s MMA that would push that fight until 2015 at the earliest. It is not on the horizon for Rousey to take. She has two challengers lined up in Alexis Davis and Cat Zingano, and she has two movies to film. That is not counting the promotion schedule that will come up when The Expendables 3 comes to theatres this summer.
The schedule is full, Cyborg has not proven anything to be worthy of a shot at Rousey and fans just need to stop feeding into this nonsense.
The fight can happen, but Cyborg has to prove she deserves it first. White and the UFC have opened the door for that fight to potentially happen. Now it’s on her to see it through if she truly wants it.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com