Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Justino is perhaps the best women’s MMA fighter of all time. She has also cultivated a reputation as one of the most ferocious and intimidating fighters in the sport, regardless of gender. But Justino has the misfortune of fighting in a division – 145 pounds – that is thin in the women’s ranks. As such, the Chute Boxe representative has had a difficult time finding suitable opposition for much of her career. Her imposing physicality and ever-improving skill set mean that few women in her weight class can withstand her.
Contrary to her profile as a savage finisher, the woman known as ‘Cyborg’ has not always been as dangerous as her current iteration. That is reason there are not more victims on this list.
She lost her MMA debut via kneebar, and has gradually shored up her grappling skills throughout her career. Justino has always been physically imposing, but her striking and wrestling have come a long way from when she won her first major title in Strikeforce in 2009. In that fight against Gina Carano, ‘Cyborg’ repeatedly found herself in compromising positions. She relied on brute strength and her clinch game to carry her through large portions of the contest.
Since then, as she has developed her boxing and jiu jitsu to match her her physicality and vicious clinch game, she has dominated her foes more and more. As her second fight in the UFC approaches, a 140-pound catchweight against Lina Lansberg, let us take a look back at the opponents Cristiane Justino has crushed most mercilessly.
The post Cyborg’s Six Most Overmatched Opponents appeared first on LowKick MMA.
Usually when I’m watching MMA fights on TV, I don’t want to risk a bathroom break in the middle of a fight for fear of missing something important. But with last night’s Strikeforce 135-pound women’s tournament and its three-minute rounds, I felt like I was always just one especially long sneeze away from missing the entire fight.
This is the Strikeforce live blog for 
For a while, it seemed as though the Strikeforce 135-pound women’s division was being overshadowed by the 145-pound weight class and its champion, Cris Cyborg. But all of a sudden, and not to mention on the eve of Strikeforce’s 135-pound women’s title fight between champion Sarah Kaufman and Roxanne Modaferri, the welterweight division has become a lot more stable and clear, as the organization announced Thursday a four-woman single elimination tournament, which will crown a new No. 2 contender for that weight class.