Cris “Cyborg” Justino may be the only woman capable of beating UFC Women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, and she is ready to take the fight to “Rowdy” both inside and outside the Octagon.
Rousey dominated Bethe Correia in a 34-second-long knockout victory at UFC 190, after which she made some disparaging remarks regarding Cyborg, according to Damon Martin of FoxSports.com:
“I’m prepared to deal with anything. That’s why I’m the champ,” Rousey said. “I fight in the UFC 135-pound division. … (Cyborg) can fight at 145 pumped full of steroids and she can make weight just like everybody else without them.”
Cyborg, who currently competes for Invicta FC, understandably took offense to the comments Rousey laid out in the media:
In fact, the 30-year-old Brazilian was so upset that she threatened legal action on Twitter:
At the same time, Cyborg offered a potential compromise with regard to weight in hopes of making a long-awaited clash with Rousey a reality:
The 28-year-old Rousey is a perfect 12-0 in her professional career with only one fight lasting beyond the first round. Cyborg—Invicta FC Women’s Featherweight titleholder—is 14-1 with a no contest, although she hasn’t lost since 2005.
There is no shortage of bad blood between the two competitors, which is why Rousey versus Cyborg may be the biggest dream fight remaining in UFC, and UFC President Dana White is well aware of the potential gold mine he’s sitting on, per Wade Keller of MMA Torch:
White may be wise to officially bring in Cyborg and milk some pay-per-view fights out of both her and Rousey against other opponents before matching them up, but there is too much hatred between them to keep them apart for long.
Rousey has been a joy for MMA fans to watch, but she needs some legitimate competition in order to hold that interest over the long term. Cyborg could be precisely that, and pitting her against Rousey would presumably help UFC do some of its best pay-per-view numbers in history.
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