Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino, the Invicta featherweight world champion and one of the best fighters in women’s MMA, has said she won’t be able to cut down to the 135-pound limit for the women’s bantamweight division and, as such, will never compete in that weight class.
Justino did say, however, she remains open to a catchweight “superfight” at 140 pounds, between bantamweight and her current division’s 145-pound limit.
The news came Saturday morning, via Marc Raimondi of MMA Fighting:
No more 135. Superfight? Yeah. I think that’s fair. Somebody can go up a little bit, I’ll go down a little bit. … Of course I want to make the fights nice for the fans, but I don’t want to do something to make my life terrible.
Justino (14-1-1) had been under enormous pressure from promoters and fans to reach the bantamweight threshold, as she was widely considered the most credible threat to Ronda Rousey. As most fans are aware, Rousey lost her first professional MMA bout and UFC women’s bantamweight title to Holly Holm in November.
That fight presumably changed the equation for Justino. Rousey and her camp repeatedly said they would not move up to featherweight and that Cyborg would need to cut to 135 pounds if the fight were to happen. Given the huge rivalry between the fighters (and the massive payday it would have generated), Justino reportedly tried to make the limit but was seemingly never able to do so. At one point, her doctors even said such a cut could threaten her life and ability to have children.
The decision also comes in the wake of a new ban on intravenous rehydration, which can limit the amount of weight fighters can cut. Extreme weight-cutting in general is facing greater scrutiny, especially in the wake of flyweight Yang Jian Bing’s death from weight-cutting in Asia this past fall.
In any case, the years-long drama over Cyborg’s weight class now appears to be over. That’s probably true given that Holm and her team have indicated she would fight Cyborg “in a heartbeat.”
“She’s the champ, and if she says she wants fight me, then we can fight,” Cyborg told Raimondi in reference to Holm. “I think it’s good for women’s MMA if we can fight. She knows I cannot go to 135, it’s too hard.”
Cyborg, 30, has never competed in the UFC but has fought and held titles for various promotions around the world. The Brazilian muay thai wrecking machine has won her last four by knockout, all but one in the first round. She has not suffered a professional defeat since her first bout in 2005.
Justino defends her title in the all-female Invicta promotion Saturday night against Daria Ibragimova.
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