(Those shorts used to be full-length pants, until somebody made her angry. / Photo via TitoCouture)
Nine months into her year-long steroid suspension, former Strikeforce featherweight champion Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino (or whatever she’s going by these days) made an appearance on MMAFighting’s The MMA Hour yesterday, where she discussed her desire to get it on with bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey when she’s back in action.
There’s just one small problem. As Cyborg told host Ariel Helwani, cutting to Rousey’s weight class of 135 pounds would be a physical impossibility for the Brazilian banger, who’s currently walking around at a lean 160. But maybe Ronda could meet her halfway? As Cyborg explained:
“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. 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.”
Well, I don’t know about this “running” business — 135 pounds is clearly Rousey’s ideal weight class, and swelling back up to fight a 160-pound Cyborg puts Ronda at an obvious disadvantage. Still, Dana White recently said that Rousey is the one woman he could see fighting in the UFC sometime in the future, and she’d need a high-profile dance partner. So who cares if the fight is held at a 140-pound catchweight, and who cares if there’s a belt on the line? Ronda vs. Cyborg needs to be booked, just for it’s potential to promote women’s MMA, and when it happens, it should be on a UFC pay-per-view. Breaking the gender barrier could be just what the UFC needs to pull out of its rut. Make it happen, Zuffa.