Fresh off her first-round technical knockout win over Leslie Smith at UFC 198 (see it again here), Invicta FC featherweight champion Cristiane Justino was slotted for yet another 140-pound catchweight bout against bantamweight contender Germaine de Randamie at UFC 201 on July 30.
That’s according to the folks at UFC Tonight.
Justino, however, insists her next fight will be for Invicta and is done messing around with weight cuts that send her south of the featherweight limit. In addition “Cyborg” took to her social media accounts to ask the promotion to stop manipulating her fans.
Her words:
“I’m a champion at 145 [pounds]. The UFC doesn’t have my division; that’s fine! But they don’t have the right to erase my division. No point in trying to manipulate my fans, I’ll be defending my belt next fight! I’ve proven I can make 140 [pounds]. I did my part. It was very hard to make 140 [pounds]. I had to train [three] times a day, and I’m doing a documentary that will soon be online for you to see. In all the press I had to do for my last fight I couldn’t take my belt to show I’m champion. I was forbidden.”
Sorry, but what happens on Fight Pass, stays on Fight Pass.
Justino (16-1) is widely regarded as the most dangerous female fighter in all of mixed martial arts (MMA). Loosely linked to former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey over the past few years — a super fight she’s still willing to entertain — “Cyborg” has been forced to settle for regional beatings as UFC has no women’s 145-pound weight class.
Yet.