Invicta FC Strawweight Champion Angela Hill’s UFC return is on hold for now. After being scheduled to replace Maryna Moroz against Jessica Andrade at UFC 207, Hill is now out of the fight due to U.S. Anti-Doping Agency choosing to impose the four month period of pre-return anti-doping testing on her. Hill, nearly in tears, announced the news in a video that she tweeted on Tuesday night.
“I really wanted to get one more fight in this year,” Hill explained. “I thought it was going to be a really good fight for me. I knew I could beat her. I’m really sorry. I just wanted to let all my fans know that I’m not ducking her, I’m not a punk. I was ready to jump in there when no one else wanted to and fight a really tough opponent and have a great fight and put on a show for the fans. But it’s not gonna happen this year.”
It’s not yet clear exactly how exactly the policy is being applied here. The promotion is still booking late replacements who aren’t going through the advance fourth months of testing, and the four month period is supposed to be for fighters who retire of their own volition and then return. The policy is in place to stop fighters from “retiring” to get on banned substances with the idea that they will retain some of the gains when they clean up and decide to return. That doesn’t apply here: Hill was cut by the UFC after going on a two fight losing streak, so it’s not as if she had any say in the matter.
USADA was not immediately available for comment when MMANews.com called their media relations hotline.
Invicta FC Strawweight Champion Angela Hill’s UFC return is on hold for now. After being scheduled to replace Maryna Moroz against Jessica Andrade at UFC 207, Hill is now out of the fight due to U.S. Anti-Doping Agency choosing to impose the four month period of pre-return anti-doping testing on her. Hill, nearly in tears, announced the news in a video that she tweeted on Tuesday night.
Sorry guys, I know it was rumored I was fighting in Dec but it's not happening, here's why. pic.twitter.com/VOEyldLPLs
“I really wanted to get one more fight in this year,” Hill explained. “I thought it was going to be a really good fight for me. I knew I could beat her. I’m really sorry. I just wanted to let all my fans know that I’m not ducking her, I’m not a punk. I was ready to jump in there when no one else wanted to and fight a really tough opponent and have a great fight and put on a show for the fans. But it’s not gonna happen this year.”
It’s not yet clear exactly how exactly the policy is being applied here. The promotion is still booking late replacements who aren’t going through the advance fourth months of testing, and the four month period is supposed to be for fighters who retire of their own volition and then return. The policy is in place to stop fighters from “retiring” to get on banned substances with the idea that they will retain some of the gains when they clean up and decide to return. That doesn’t apply here: Hill was cut by the UFC after going on a two fight losing streak, so it’s not as if she had any say in the matter.
USADA was not immediately available for comment when MMANews.com called their media relations hotline.
Tuesday was, if nothing else, a day of mixed emotions for Cristiane Cyborg Justino. During the afternoon, she experienced the high of gaining United States citizenship in a ceremony held in her adopted hometown of Los Angeles. A few hours later, that was followed by the low of the announcement that the inaugural UFC Women’s Featherweight Championship fight at UFC 208 will not involve her, instead pitting Holly Holm against Germaine de Randamie.
Unsurprisingly, she’s not exactly thrilled, as she told MMAFighting’s Guilherme Cruz. While she’s “happy the UFC created my division” after “11 years [that] I’m fighting for women to have the same rights as men with several divisions,” her happiness with the development ends there. “Everybody knows I’m the featherweight champion. “I’m undefeated for 10 years in my division. They put this belt only to sell the fight for the new MMA fans. For an example, Holly is coming off two consecutive losses and will fight for the belt. The real fight fans know what’s real.”
When asked if she is optimistic about fighting the Holm-de Randamie, Justino wasn’t getting her hopes up. “I have no idea, there are no rules in MMA,” she said. “The last fight in the men’s 145-pound division, a 10-0 fighter fought a guy who was 1-5 in his last fights. Other fighters like me have to wait for a title fight. I’m fighting for my division for 10 years, and until yesterday Dana said there were no women. This is our reality.”
Justino had been offered fights with both fighters on the same card, citing the need for a longer camp the make the weight properly after her last cut, to 140 pounds, caused health problems. Realistically speaking, Holm pretty much turned down the fight, as she would only agree to a bout at 138 pounds, even lower than the 140 pound mark Cyborg is no longer willing to cut to. Germaine de Randamie, however, was fully on board for a 145 pound title fight with Cyborg.
Cyborg is still technically the Invicta FC Featherweight Champion, and was not defending the title as of late while the promotion attempted to build new challengers. She had been competing in Invicta while under UFC contract, with the latter covering her fight purses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wcj64LDGrhc
Tuesday was, if nothing else, a day of mixed emotions for Cristiane Cyborg Justino. During the afternoon, she experienced the high of gaining United States citizenship in a ceremony held in her adopted hometown of Los Angeles. A few hours later, that was followed by the low of the announcement that the inaugural UFC Women’s Featherweight Championship fight at UFC 208 will not involve her, instead pitting Holly Holm against Germaine de Randamie.
Unsurprisingly, she’s not exactly thrilled, as she told MMAFighting’s Guilherme Cruz. While she’s “happy the UFC created my division” after “11 years [that] I’m fighting for women to have the same rights as men with several divisions,” her happiness with the development ends there. “Everybody knows I’m the featherweight champion. “I’m undefeated for 10 years in my division. They put this belt only to sell the fight for the new MMA fans. For an example, Holly is coming off two consecutive losses and will fight for the belt. The real fight fans know what’s real.”
When asked if she is optimistic about fighting the Holm-de Randamie, Justino wasn’t getting her hopes up. “I have no idea, there are no rules in MMA,” she said. “The last fight in the men’s 145-pound division, a 10-0 fighter fought a guy who was 1-5 in his last fights. Other fighters like me have to wait for a title fight. I’m fighting for my division for 10 years, and until yesterday Dana said there were no women. This is our reality.”
Justino had been offered fights with both fighters on the same card, citing the need for a longer camp the make the weight properly after her last cut, to 140 pounds, caused health problems. Realistically speaking, Holm pretty much turned down the fight, as she would only agree to a bout at 138 pounds, even lower than the 140 pound mark Cyborg is no longer willing to cut to. Germaine de Randamie, however, was fully on board for a 145 pound title fight with Cyborg.
Cyborg is still technically the Invicta FC Featherweight Champion, and was not defending the title as of late while the promotion attempted to build new challengers. She had been competing in Invicta while under UFC contract, with the latter covering her fight purses.
This is the type of nice story we don’t get to cover every day. According to an Associated Press report, 31-year-old Brazilian Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino is now an American citizen, taking the oath of citizenship today during a ceremony at the Los Angeles Convention Center. In the process, the UFC fighter and Invicta FC Featherweight champion has now taken on Cyborgas her her middle name, legally making her Cristiane Cyborg Justino.
“It’s an opportunity for me [to] give back for the American community what they give to me. I can vote. I can participate more,” she said to the AP. “The first time I went to America, I had the opportunity to fight here and people really appreciate my work and appreciate my sport.”
Justino has lived in southern California for the past several years after her split from ex-husband Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos, who originally gave her the nickname. Mr. Cyborg, who is currently under contract to Bellator, is currently out of action due to a fractured skull sustained in his loss to Michael “Venom” Page. As far as anyone can tell, they are still on good terms, as Cris was very publicly trying to help Evangelista out when he got hurt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5QDryuUQKo
This is the type of nice story we don’t get to cover every day. According to an Associated Press report, 31-year-old Brazilian Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino is now an American citizen, taking the oath of citizenship today during a ceremony at the Los Angeles Convention Center. In the process, the UFC fighter and Invicta FC Featherweight champion has now taken on Cyborgas her her middle name, legally making her Cristiane Cyborg Justino.
“It’s an opportunity for me [to] give back for the American community what they give to me. I can vote. I can participate more,” she said to the AP. “The first time I went to America, I had the opportunity to fight here and people really appreciate my work and appreciate my sport.”
Justino has lived in southern California for the past several years after her split from ex-husband Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos, who originally gave her the nickname. Mr. Cyborg, who is currently under contract to Bellator, is currently out of action due to a fractured skull sustained in his loss to Michael “Venom” Page. As far as anyone can tell, they are still on good terms, as Cris was very publicly trying to help Evangelista out when he got hurt.
Almost immediately after it was announced, Maryna Moroz had to pull out of her UFC 207 fight with Jessica Andrade due to an injury. In searching for a late replacement (albeit for a fight scheduled just a few weeks out), the UFC turned to Invicta FC, re-signing their current strawweight champion, Angela Hill, to replace Moroz. Combate’s Ana Hissa broke the news on Twitter:
Hill was the most unknown and least experienced member of the cast of The Ultimate Fighter season 20, which hosted the UFC Strawweight Championship tournament through the semi-finals. With just one pro MMA fight (albeit more experience in Muay Thai), she was outmatched as #16 seed, losing to #1 seed Carla Esparza in the first round by submission. She rebounded on the finale by battering Emily Peters-Kagan in a lopsided decision, only to be outgrappled by both Tecia Torres and Rose Namajunas and then cut.
At that point, Invicta signed her. Thanks to a combination of more appropriate matchmaking and skill improvements training at Alliance MMA in San Diego, Hill got two straight finishes en route to taking the Invicta title from Livia Renata Souza. She successfully defended the title against late replacement Kaline Medeiros on November 18th. After the fight, she talked about considering a drop to atomweight to become a two division champion.
Andrade is a very interesting test to gauge Hill’s improvements. While her grappling has clearly advanced a lot in 14 months since her loss to Namajunas, Andrade is likely physically stronger than anyone else she’s ever fought, and it may not even be close. Andrade was physically strong 20 pounds up at bantamweight before moving down, and her grappling looked better than ever in her last fight, a first round submission of Joanne Calderwood.
No word yet what will happen next with the Invicta title.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSI3D0NJdic
Almost immediately after it was announced, Maryna Moroz had to pull out of her UFC 207 fight with Jessica Andrade due to an injury. In searching for a late replacement (albeit for a fight scheduled just a few weeks out), the UFC turned to Invicta FC, re-signing their current strawweight champion, Angela Hill, to replace Moroz. Combate’s Ana Hissa broke the news on Twitter:
Hill was the most unknown and least experienced member of the cast of The Ultimate Fighter season 20, which hosted the UFC Strawweight Championship tournament through the semi-finals. With just one pro MMA fight (albeit more experience in Muay Thai), she was outmatched as #16 seed, losing to #1 seed Carla Esparza in the first round by submission. She rebounded on the finale by battering Emily Peters-Kagan in a lopsided decision, only to be outgrappled by both Tecia Torres and Rose Namajunas and then cut.
At that point, Invicta signed her. Thanks to a combination of more appropriate matchmaking and skill improvements training at Alliance MMA in San Diego, Hill got two straight finishes en route to taking the Invicta title from Livia Renata Souza. She successfully defended the title against late replacement Kaline Medeiros on November 18th. After the fight, she talked about considering a drop to atomweight to become a two division champion.
Andrade is a very interesting test to gauge Hill’s improvements. While her grappling has clearly advanced a lot in 14 months since her loss to Namajunas, Andrade is likely physically stronger than anyone else she’s ever fought, and it may not even be close. Andrade was physically strong 20 pounds up at bantamweight before moving down, and her grappling looked better than ever in her last fight, a first round submission of Joanne Calderwood.
No word yet what will happen next with the Invicta title.
Earlier, we told you about how, on the latest episode of the UFC Unfiltered podcast, UFC President Dana White claimed that Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino had turned down offers to fight at her preferred weight, 145 lbs., for a new UFC Women’s Featherweight Championship. Specifically, that there was a tentative offer to fight Holly Holm and a more solid offer to fight Germaine de Randamie. After White’s podcast appearance was released, MMAFighting reached out to “Cyborg,” who released this statement:
In my last weight cut I almost died. I was in the bathtub cutting weight, and I thought, ‘I will die in this bathtub.’ It was the worst weight cut in my life. My nutritionist George Lockhart, who, by the way, is a UFC employee, didn’t do an effective job with this birth control pill he indicated saying that would help me. But thank God, in a war, I made weight, cutting 24 pounds in a week. My body was retaining a lot of water. The last time I spoke with George Lockhart was in the locker room before my fight. He disappeared after the fight. I’m not working with him anymore.
For the first time I didn’t warm up in the locker room like I do for every fight because I was too weak. I was just praying for God and went for the fight, and, once again, God gave me the victory. After all this, I went back to my hometown on Sunday and I felt sick on Sunday. My mother gave me tea and I fell asleep. The next day, like I always do after my fights, I did blood tests to see if everything was okay after a terrible weight cut. And for the first time, the nurses couldn’t take my blood, it was so thick it wouldn’t come out, so we couldn’t do tests. I was in treatment for 10 days with Dr. Ulisseia. I was in observation because I was feeling sick all the time.
You can see that I give no interviews after the fight. I told UFC Brazil PR Lilian (Caparroz) that I wanted to cancel all my interviews and couldn’t travel. After all that, at home, I decided I would not fight at this weight anymore, that I would only fight at my division. And only with 12 weeks’ notice. For my last fight, they told me eight weeks before.
I got a call from the UFC offering me another catchweight fight, and I said I would not fight at this weight anymore. I needed a break to get my health back to normal because my body was weak, I was anemic.
After that, they invited me to fight again, but this time at my weight and for the belt, but with 10 weeks’ notice. Knowing that I was recovering, like I said, I told them I can fight anyone in March, but I need to take care of my body, and no mention of the fact that I’m dealing with severe depression and can’t have another brutal weight cut like before. This decision is more important than the belt or the division, I’m thinking about my health.
I thank my fans. We did it! I’ll soon be fighting in my division, where I’m the world champion. You and God are loyal. I’ll be ready to fight in March.
For what it’s worth, to the best of my knowledge, George Lockhart is not a “UFC employee,” but his fee for a few fighters has been covered by the company in a few cases. He also explained the issue of the birth control pill that he wanted Cyborg on in detail at the time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hldL4GcrRjY
Earlier, we told you about how, on the latest episode of the UFC Unfiltered podcast, UFC President Dana White claimed that Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino had turned down offers to fight at her preferred weight, 145 lbs., for a new UFC Women’s Featherweight Championship. Specifically, that there was a tentative offer to fight Holly Holm and a more solid offer to fight Germaine de Randamie. After White’s podcast appearance was released, MMAFighting reached out to “Cyborg,” who released this statement:
In my last weight cut I almost died. I was in the bathtub cutting weight, and I thought, ‘I will die in this bathtub.’ It was the worst weight cut in my life. My nutritionist George Lockhart, who, by the way, is a UFC employee, didn’t do an effective job with this birth control pill he indicated saying that would help me. But thank God, in a war, I made weight, cutting 24 pounds in a week. My body was retaining a lot of water. The last time I spoke with George Lockhart was in the locker room before my fight. He disappeared after the fight. I’m not working with him anymore.
For the first time I didn’t warm up in the locker room like I do for every fight because I was too weak. I was just praying for God and went for the fight, and, once again, God gave me the victory. After all this, I went back to my hometown on Sunday and I felt sick on Sunday. My mother gave me tea and I fell asleep. The next day, like I always do after my fights, I did blood tests to see if everything was okay after a terrible weight cut. And for the first time, the nurses couldn’t take my blood, it was so thick it wouldn’t come out, so we couldn’t do tests. I was in treatment for 10 days with Dr. Ulisseia. I was in observation because I was feeling sick all the time.
You can see that I give no interviews after the fight. I told UFC Brazil PR Lilian (Caparroz) that I wanted to cancel all my interviews and couldn’t travel. After all that, at home, I decided I would not fight at this weight anymore, that I would only fight at my division. And only with 12 weeks’ notice. For my last fight, they told me eight weeks before.
I got a call from the UFC offering me another catchweight fight, and I said I would not fight at this weight anymore. I needed a break to get my health back to normal because my body was weak, I was anemic.
After that, they invited me to fight again, but this time at my weight and for the belt, but with 10 weeks’ notice. Knowing that I was recovering, like I said, I told them I can fight anyone in March, but I need to take care of my body, and no mention of the fact that I’m dealing with severe depression and can’t have another brutal weight cut like before. This decision is more important than the belt or the division, I’m thinking about my health.
I thank my fans. We did it! I’ll soon be fighting in my division, where I’m the world champion. You and God are loyal. I’ll be ready to fight in March.
For what it’s worth, to the best of my knowledge, George Lockhart is not a “UFC employee,” but his fee for a few fighters has been covered by the company in a few cases. He also explained the issue of the birth control pill that he wanted Cyborg on in detail at the time.
