Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White has said no to a grappling match between combat veterans Cris Cyborg and Miesha Tate.
Earlier this month is was revealed that White put a stop to a potential boxing match between former UFC champion Georges St-Pierre and Oscar De La Hoya. It wasn’t a popular decision considering GSP wanted to test his striking skills against a returning “Golden Boy,” but St-Pierre is still under contract with UFC and White did not want to lend his services out.
The same thing seems to be happening with a grappling match between Cyborg and Tate. The two former UFC champions were working towards a match at an upcoming Submission Underground event, but White quickly nixed that in the bud.
“I’m not surprised, you know? I’m not surprised,” Cyborg recently told James Lynch (via Bloody Elbow). “He’s the one to shut [it] out. He doesn’t want this [to] happen. She wants to have a couple fights more, she says [it’s] not the end of the line, now she can have the opportunity to do this fight in the future. And she said she’d really like to do it but they won’t let her do it. You know the story. Dana wants nothing to do with Cyborg. I’m the one rock inside Dana White’s [shoe]. But I believe in the future maybe the fans would like to watch.”
Cyborg, 35, parted ways with UFC back in 2019 after a nasty feud with White. The Brazilian veteran ended up signing with Bellator MMA and found the home she was looking for. One that would allow her to compete outside of the cage and give her the freedom to seek additional sponsors.
“Yeah, but it’s like… you have to — OK, fighters don’t have forever,” Cyborg said of White’s control of UFC fighters. “We have to use every moment of opportunity that we have. Okay, your manager and you decide one thing is good for a career, [the promoter] is supposed to let it go, let them do it. They’re not helping with the fighter. They’re gonna make extra money, extra publicity, extra matches, it’s going to be better. But I don’t know, I’m glad to be free of this. I am free, you know? I don’t have to ask anything from him to do anything.”
While there’s no real reason why White should have shot down the proposed boxing match between GSP and De La Hoya it’s likely that Tate’s looming Octagon return played a part in UFC not allowing her grappling match with Cyborg. It’s not the most popular course of events, but UFC is just protecting its asset.
What say you, Maniacs? Should UFC allow Cyborg and Tate to meet in a grappling match?
Let us know in the comments below!