Former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor was seemingly not pleased to see one name high up a recent list of top women’s MMA fighters.
This week, ESPN has released two lists ranking the top 10 male and female mixed martial artists of the 21st century. UFC Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones took top spot above runner-up Georges St-Pierre for the men.
The women’s list, meanwhile, was topped by former two-division titleholder Amanda Nunes, who brought her career to an end following a successful defense of the bantamweight belt last June.
The “Lioness” pipped Cris Cyborg and Ronda Rousey to the post, with the pair of ex-champs coming in at second and third, respectively.
19 years
Beginning, middle, and the end of all of these careers
— CrisCyborg.Com (@criscyborg) July 24, 2024
The entries included a description of each woman’s accomplishments in the game. For Cyborg, that’s currently occupying the Bellator featherweight throne and formerly holding UFC, Strikeforce, and Invicta FC gold, making her the only fighter to win championships in four major MMA promotions.
McGregor, however, thinks ESPN missed out a key piece of information.
McGregor Sends Cyborg Reminder After Seeing ESPN List
The former featherweight and lightweight UFC champ was a point of discussion following the release of the men’s top 10, having missed out on a spot among the likes of Chuck Liddell and Kamaru Usman.
Perhaps agitated by his omission or simply keeping up with his habit of targeting fellow fighters on social media, McGregor looked to take away from Cyborg’s accomplishments and high placement on ESPN’s list with a reminder about her past drug failure.
“Cyborg is a convicted steroid cheat let’s not forget,” McGregor wrote in a now-deleted post on X.
Cyborg tested positive for stanozolol, an anabolic steroid commonly used as a performance-enhancing drug, in December 2011. The California Athletic State Commission suspended Cyborg’s license for one year and fined her $2,500 for the indiscretion.
The Brazilian’s drug test failure remained a topic of conversation in the years that followed, with UFC CEO Dana White making reference to it prior to Cyborg’s bitter split from the promotion in 2019.
“We brought in her after she tested positive for steroids and we made her a clean athlete with the best drug testing policy in all of sports the entire time she was here,” White said during a media scrum. “When she talks about her legacy and her brand, her legacy and her brand, nothing’s better than knowing she’s a clean athlete after testing positive for steroids and all the negativity that surrounded her about being a dirty athlete. We bring her in here, we do all this stuff, and she was just never happy.”
Cyborg hasn’t tested positive for banned substances aside from the 2011 case.
When it comes to her legacy and spot in women’s MMA greatness, Cyborg appears far from done. While Nunes remains on the sidelines pondering a return from retirement, Cyborg has been pushing for her PFL debut since the promotion acquired Bellator.
By all accounts, the Bellator featherweight champ is being lined up to face her PFL counterpart, Larissa Pacheco, at a pay-per-view event in Saudi Arabia this fall.
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