Cristiane 'Cyborg' Santos
Former Strikeforce women’s featherweight champion Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Santos (10-1, 1NC) still has about four months left on her suspension from the California State Athletic Commission, but she already has her sights set on her next opponent.
As a guest on “The MMA Hour” on Monday at MMAFighting.com, Santos told host Ariel Helwani that she “really” wants to face Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey saying the former Judo Olympian ran down a weight division to avoid facing her.
‘Cyborg’ says she isn’t able to follow Rousey down to 135-lbs because it’s impossible for her to cut the weight. The lowest weight she could make is 140-lbs and challenges ‘Rowdy’ to face her in a catchweight bout.
“I really wanna fight Ronda. I really want to. She says bad things about me. I never say bad things about my opponent. I want to do my best in the octagon, and if she says she wants to fight me, she can come to my weight or at 140.”
“She started at 145,” she said of Rousey’s Strikeforce career. “And she’s running to 135. She’s running to not fight me. And after, she speaks a lot of s— about me. I want to fight her soon. I’m very excited to fight her. And when we’re in the octagon, we’ll see if she says anything. And if she says anything, I can punch her.”
Santos was suspended for a year after testing positive for stanozolol, an anabolic steroid, following her victory over Hiroko Yamanaka. The TKO win was changed to a “No Contest” ending Santos’ ten fight win streak.