The UFC has announced that the first ever women’s 145-pound title will be contested for between former bantamweight champion Holly Holm and No. 11-ranked Germaine De Randamie at UFC 208 this upcoming February.
The news comes as a bit of a shock given the fact that Invicta FC featherweight champion Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino, who has already made a successful UFC debut with two knockout victories, has been heavily campaigning for the creation of the weight division since joining the promotion.
‘Cyborg’ has taken being left out of the mix for the inaugural title as a sign of disrespect, to which UFC President Dana White recently scoffed at during a recent interview with ESPN (courtesy of MMA Mania):
“We’re out to disrespect Cyborg?” White said. “She said she couldn’t make 145 pounds in eight weeks. We offered her a second and a third fight. She turned them down. With everything I’ve got going on in my life, the last thing I’m thinking is, ‘Hey, let’s get together and disrespect Cyborg.’
“We offered three fights, and she turned them all down,” White said. “This is a business. I had two girls who wanted to fight for the 145-pound title. This is the pros. If you play for the Patriots, you don’t sit around and say, ‘I don’t feel like playing this weekend.’ We brought her in because she said she could make 135 pounds. When she couldn’t, the weight cut was too hard, we created the 145-pound division — and she still doesn’t want to fight.”
White also said that if a scenario in which Holm and and Ronda Rousey both hold UFC gold, a rematch between the two could be the next step for the 145-pound title. Not an immediate title shot for Justino:
“This is a business of opportunity,” White said. “When opportunity arises, you jump up and take it. If you don’t, the bus is gone, and it passes you by. If Holly wins and becomes a champion, and that’s the scenario [Rousey regains the title]? I guarantee people will want to see it.”
The only way for that scenario to play out is for ‘The Rowdy One’ to regain the 135-pound strap when she takes on current champ Amanda Nunes at UFC 207 later this month. If both Rousey and Holm are able to emerge victorious in their respective title bouts, one of the biggest rematches in mixed martial arts (MMA) history could be on our horizon.
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