Was somebody at br.ufc.com having a little joke last night — or did they reveal something they weren’t allowed to yet? Whatever the case, the UFC’s official Brazilian website briefly posted a link to UFC 157: Rousey vs. Cyborg, the women’s superfight that remains too good to be true.
Cris Cyborg immediately denied the match was happening, telling MMAJunkie that while she is currently negotiating with the UFC, she won’t be meeting Ronda Rousey at the February 23rd event in Anaheim. But in violation of her strict doctor’s orders, the former Strikeforce’s 145-pound women’s champ revealed that she could indeed get down to 135 pounds eventually: “In one month, I can’t do it, but if I have time, I could do it,” Cyborg said, perhaps miscalculating the amount of time between now and 2/23.
Was somebody at br.ufc.com having a little joke last night — or did they reveal something they weren’t allowed to yet? Whatever the case, the UFC’s official Brazilian website briefly posted a link to UFC 157: Rousey vs. Cyborg, the women’s superfight that remains too good to be true.
Cris Cyborg immediately denied the match was happening, telling MMAJunkie that while she is currently negotiating with the UFC, she won’t be meeting Ronda Rousey at the February 23rd event in Anaheim. But in violation of her strict doctor’s orders, the former Strikeforce’s 145-pound women’s champ revealed that she could indeed get down to 135 pounds eventually: “In one month, I can’t do it, but if I have time, I could do it,” Cyborg said, perhaps miscalculating the amount of time between now and 2/23.
Her cardiologist stated emphatically that he would not sign off on a move down a weight class based on her current health. The dangers to her body could also prohibit Santos from carrying a child later in life, and according to her camp, that was a risk the former Strikeforce champion was unwilling to make for any fight. Santos’ walking around weight currently hovers around 160lbs and the 25lb cut would just be too much for her body according to her doctors.
I mean…Cyborg looks like she could probably cut 10 pounds in excess back-muscle alone, but hey, I’m no doctor — I’m only a humble Female Body Inspector. In response, Rousey’s manager Darin Harvey pointed out the obvious:
Her cardiologist stated emphatically that he would not sign off on a move down a weight class based on her current health. The dangers to her body could also prohibit Santos from carrying a child later in life, and according to her camp, that was a risk the former Strikeforce champion was unwilling to make for any fight. Santos’ walking around weight currently hovers around 160lbs and the 25lb cut would just be too much for her body according to her doctors.
I mean…Cyborg looks like she could probably cut 10 pounds in excess back-muscle alone, but hey, I’m no doctor — I’m only a humble Female Body Inspector. In response, Rousey’s manager Darin Harvey pointed out the obvious:
“If you ask five doctors, you’ll get five different opinions. I guarantee you, you can find doctors that’ll say the weight cut will be fine…. It all depends on what side they’re working for. It’s her doctor. If you’re going to trial, I can find a professional witness to make you look innocent or make you look guilty…. I don’t want to see anyone get hurt long-term … but my personal belief is she can lose the weight. She would just prefer an advantage to fight at 145 pounds. And I think we have the advantage at 135…
“We want that fight because it’s a big money fight. We want to fight Cyborg and I think Ronda can beat her at any weight. But I believe if she’s not taking drugs, 135 pounds will be absolutely no problem…. At the end of the day, it’s up to Ronda. I would advise against it because I would like to do everything to get Cyborg down to 135 pounds, but I know it’s the fight the world wants to see. I think it’s a million-plus Pay-Per-View fight, so we have to take those things into consideration.”
Well, “a million-plus“ buys may be a cute little exaggeration, but Harvey makes a valid point, and Cyborg doesn’t have a leg to stand on in this argument. Between the two fighters, Ronda is the only one with a title belt, and Ronda is the only one that Dana White is seeminglyinterested in doing business with. Meanwhile, Cyborg is a disgraced steroid cheat who will need to accept the fight on Ronda’s terms for the right to redeem herself.
So do the right thing, Cris: Hire Mike Dolce, alter your workouts a bit to shed some muscle, and do whatever it takes to set up the UFC’s first women’s title fight, at a weight where a belt already exists. It might suck, but it’s what you need to do to stay relevant. You’re in Rondaland, now.
(Seen here: The WMMA fight that men and women around the world would *definitely* tune in to.)
If we know anything about Strikeforce female bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, it’s that she is not one to let go of a grudge. On the heels of yet another dominant armbar finish over Sarah Kaufman in August, Rousey was quick to call out the roided-up thorn in her side that the general public knows as Cris Cyborg. As it turned out, Cyborg had been removed from the building beforehand, but the table was nonetheless set for possibly the biggest fight in WMMA history. The only problem with this matchup appeared to be Cyborg’s insistence that she simply could not cut the weight necessary to challenge Rousey for her title. Rousey was also adamant about her desire to stay at 135, and the two have been locked in a stalemate ever since.
But that hasn’t stopped either party from continuing the endless war of words with one another. True to form, Rousey has lobbed significantly more verbal bombs at Cyborg as of late, mainly in regard to her past steroid use. Her most recent attacks took place on The MMA Hour:
If you can make 145 [pounds] while you’re super juiced out, you can make 135 if you’re clean.
Cyborg has never had a fair fight. If you really look at it, she’s had fights where she came in and outweighed the other girl by 12 pounds and then they still fought. This girl has a long history of cheating and using drugs, and coming in overweight, and no one’s ever put their foot down ever about it.
While Rousey has every right to criticize Cyborg’s history, to say that she’s never had a fair fight seems a bit audacious on her part. Sure, the opponents placed before Cyborg were little more than lambs being led to the killing field, lambs who stood next to no chance of beating Cyborg in this or any other dimension, but….we forgot what point we were trying to make. In any case, while we’re on the subject of audacious claims, Rousey followed up her anti-Cyborg rant by claiming that a fight with the former Strikeforce featherweight women’s champ would be “the biggest fight in MMA history.”
Those comments are after the jump.
(Seen here: The WMMA fight that men and women around the world would *definitely* tune in to.)
If we know anything about Strikeforce female bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, it’s that she is not one to let go of a grudge. On the heels of yet another dominant armbar finish over Sarah Kaufman in August, Rousey was quick to call out the roided-up thorn in her side that the general public knows as Cris Cyborg. As it turned out, Cyborg had been removed from the building beforehand, but the table was nonetheless set for possibly the biggest fight in WMMA history. The only problem with this matchup appeared to be Cyborg’s insistence that she simply could not cut the weight necessary to challenge Rousey for her title. Rousey was also adamant about her desire to stay at 135, and the two have been locked in a stalemate ever since.
But that hasn’t stopped either party from continuing the endless war of words with one another. True to form, Rousey has lobbed significantly more verbal bombs at Cyborg as of late, mainly in regard to her past steroid use. Her most recent attacks took place on The MMA Hour:
If you can make 145 [pounds] while you’re super juiced out, you can make 135 if you’re clean.
Cyborg has never had a fair fight. If you really look at it, she’s had fights where she came in and outweighed the other girl by 12 pounds and then they still fought. This girl has a long history of cheating and using drugs, and coming in overweight, and no one’s ever put their foot down ever about it.
While Rousey has every right to criticize Cyborg’s history, to say that she’s never had a fair fight seems a bit audacious on her part. Sure, the opponents placed before Cyborg were little more than lambs being led to the killing field, lambs who stood next to no chance of beating Cyborg in this or any other dimension, but….we forgot what point we were trying to make. In any case, while we’re on the subject of audacious claims, Rousey followed up her anti-Cyborg rant by claiming that a fight with the former Strikeforce featherweight women’s champ would be “the biggest fight in MMA history.”
I think if it was done right and it was done correctly, you could have people watching that fight that have never seen a single MMA fight before. Lots of them. I think it could be the biggest MMA fight of all-time.
I’m serious. Think about it. Every MMA fan will watch, and a whole bunch of other people that aren’t even the least bit interested in MMA would watch. That’s the kind of demographic that fight could reach to that none of the men can right now.
We see what Ronda is trying to say here — with the right marketing, Cyborg/Rousey could be an amazingly successful fight — but one thing she seems to be overlooking is the marketing abilities, or lack thereof, of the promotion she currently fights under. In the hands of the UFC, sure, this fight could be groundbreaking, but as we’ve seen with the Rousey/Kaufman fight, if Strikeforce can’t push the “sex sells” angle in regards to WMMA, well, they will still push the “sex sells” angle. Add in the fact that many casual fans of the sport still have no clue who Ronda Rousey or Cris Cyborg are, and you’re setting yourself up for disappointment with claims like those.
But we get it, Rousey is just trying to hype a matchup that stands head and shoulders above any other available fight for her in terms of fan interest, and one that neither competitor has been willing to budge on. That in and of itself should give you a good indication as to the current drawing power and depth of WMMA.
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.”
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.
No other fights for the 8/18 card have been reported yet, and the venue hasn’t been announced, although Strikeforce’s last two stops in San Diego — for Melendez vs. Masvidal and Diaz vs. Daley — went down at the Valley View Casino.
If Rousey can armbar her way through Kaufman, she may earn the dubious honor of facing Cris Cyborg in her next defense. As Scott Coker recently explained: “I think (a fight between Rousey and Cyborg) is going to be inevitable. I think that fight will happen at some point. We’re just waiting for Cyborg to get off her suspension but that conversation will happen once she’s back ready to fight because her and Ronda at 135-pounds? That might be the highest rated show on Showtime for the year or for the past fights we’ve done. Women’s fights always rate well on Showtime and Ronda’s always delivered.”
No other fights for the 8/18 card have been reported yet, and the venue hasn’t been announced, although Strikeforce’s last two stops in San Diego — for Melendez vs. Masvidal and Diaz vs. Daley — went down at the Valley View Casino.
If Rousey can armbar her way through Kaufman, she may earn the dubious honor of facing Cris Cyborg in her next defense. As Scott Coker recently explained: ”I think (a fight between Rousey and Cyborg) is going to be inevitable. I think that fight will happen at some point. We’re just waiting for Cyborg to get off her suspension but that conversation will happen once she’s back ready to fight because her and Ronda at 135-pounds? That might be the highest rated show on Showtime for the year or for the past fights we’ve done. Women’s fights always rate well on Showtime and Ronda’s always delivered.”
So, two questions…
1) Does Cyborg deserve a title fight directly after coming back from a steroid suspension? What kind of a message does that send? Not that there’s a better option in terms of 135-pound contenders, but shouldn’t she be able to prove that she can compete cleanly before resuming her career as if nothing happened?
2) Will Sarah Kaufman foil these plans altogether? Since losing her own Strikeforce bantamweight belt to Marloes Coenen back in October 2010, Sarah Kaufman has won three straight, including decisions over Liz Carmouche and Alexis Davis. Of course, the fact that her only career loss came via armbar doesn’t bode well for her chances against Rowdy. But upsets happen all the time — especially when future superfights depend on the favorite winning. Any Kaufman fans want to make the case for her against Ronda?
If you’ve never seen the video above, it’s like the double rainbow in that it’s possibly the only time you’ll ever see Cris “Cyborg” lose and also the only instance, at least in our vast memory, of an MMA bout being won by double-kneebar.
The fighter Cyborg lost to, Erica Paes — a world BJJ champion who trained alongside the likes of the Nogueira brothers, Ricardo Arona and Murilo Bustamate at Brazilian Top Team at the time — got knocked out in her next bout and retired with an official 1-1 pro record.
Although she hasn’t fought since and has since traded in her MMA gloves for a microphone and a guitar, the aspiring Brazilian singer recalls the 2005 win vividly as it happened in the midst of the famous Chuteboxe-BTT rivalry.
“I never worry about how strong my opponent is. When I saw Cyborg, who was enormous, I thought, ‘I do not care. I train with Minotauro Nogueira.’ It was wonderful,” she recalls. “We do the move a lot in training. I got within range, took her to the ground, made a mistake, and she got up. She did what I love, came up to kick me, then I grabbed her legs so I could apply a leg lock and finished with the double-kneebar.”
(Video courtesy of YouTube/cardosopro)
If you’ve never seen the video above, it’s like the double rainbow in that it’s possibly the only time you’ll ever see Cris “Cyborg” lose and also the only instance, at least in our vast memory, of an MMA bout being won by double-kneebar.
The fighter Cyborg lost to, Erica Paes — a world BJJ champion who trained alongside the likes of the Nogueira brothers, Ricardo Arona and Murilo Bustamate at Brazilian Top Team at the time — got knocked out in her next bout and retired with an official 1-1 pro record.
Although she hasn’t fought since and has since traded in her MMA gloves for a microphone and a guitar, the aspiring Brazilian singer recalls the 2005 win vividly as it happened in the midst of the famous Chuteboxe-BTT rivalry.
“I never worry about how strong my opponent is. When I saw Cyborg, who was enormous, I thought, ‘I do not care. I train with Minotauro Nogueira.’ It was wonderful,” she recalls. “We do the move a lot in training. I got within range, took her to the ground, made a mistake, and she got up. She did what I love, came up to kick me, then I grabbed her legs so I could apply a leg lock and finished with the double-kneebar.”
