Former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz is finally set to return. News arrived tonight that Cruz will take on rising No. 3-ranked Jimmie Rivera at December 30’s UFC 219 pay-per-view (PPV) event from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Cruz has been on the sidelines since losing to current champion Cody Garbrandt at the […]
Former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz is finally set to return.
News arrived tonight that Cruz will take on rising No. 3-ranked Jimmie Rivera at December 30’s UFC 219 pay-per-view (PPV) event from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Cruz has been on the sidelines since losing to current champion Cody Garbrandt at the UFC’s last year-ending card of December 30, 2016’s UFC 207.
Prior to that defeat, his only loss in the UFC, Cruz had maintained a peerless record in the octagon, defending the title twice before injuries derailed his otherwise dominant reign. He returned from a lengthy battle with serious knee injuries to win the title from then-champion T.J. Dillashaw in early 2016, defending the title against archrival Urijah Faber before losing the belt to Faber’s Team Alpha Male protegé “No Love.”
He’ll have no easy comeback against Rivera, who’s won all five of his bouts in the UFC, most recently defeating Thomas Almeida at July’s UFC on FOX 25 after he beat Faber and Iuri Alcantara by decision. The New Jersey native has quietly risen up the loaded 125-pound ranks to the cusp of title contention against the winner of the upcoming Garbrandt vs. Dillashaw title bout at UFC 217, something that will almost assuredly be his if he can get past a decorated former champ in Cruz.
Also added to UFC 219 was a women’s strawweight bout between surging Team Alpha Male contender Cynthia Calvillo and former champion Carla Esparza. No main event has been announced for the card, but the Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz trilogy bout has been rumored for the promotion’s New Year’s card.
Cris Cyborg is reportedly on par with all of the required steps of the UFC’s partnership with the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). After a report recently surfaced from Bloody Elbow stating that Cyborg had potentially run afoul of USADA after someone had called police on USADA testing agents in Thailand, where Cyborg has been […]
Cris Cyborg is reportedly on par with all of the required steps of the UFC’s partnership with the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).
After a report recently surfaced from Bloody Elbow stating that Cyborg had potentially run afoul of USADA after someone had called police on USADA testing agents in Thailand, where Cyborg has been training with Phuket Top Team, who had shown up to the gym to test the UFC women’s featherweight champ.
However, USADA issued a statement to MMA Fighting this week (Tues., September 26, 2017) that fully exonerated Cyborg from any confusion or wrongdoing after her sample was successfully collected and sent to a WADA-accredited lab in Tokyo:
“Ms. Justino fully complied with the sample collection process. From collection to delivery, the integrity of the sample was secured, and it is currently being analyzed by the WADA accredited lab in Tokyo. Athletes’ cooperation in providing a requested sample is critical to ensure all athletes’ right to safe and clean sport is protected.”
Photo: Gary A. Vasquez for USA TODAY Sports
Apparently, the police had been called on the testing agents by workers at her hotel and Phuket Top Team front-desk employees. Phuket Top Team owner Boyd Clarke addressed the situation by explaining just why the police were called on the agents in a lengthy forum post on The Underground:
“Fake news aside, here’s the first hand on the spot happenings of the situation. As owner of Phuket Top Team I feel I should fill in some of the missing info. My Thai staff was made aware of several people believed to be “stalking” Cris cyborg, as they would not identify themselves.
We were told by our staff that 2 people checked into a hotel room next to cris and were acting strange by asking questions about them. Cyborg was placed in an exclusive location to provide her privacy while training at my gym.
Initially my staff thought the couple were just overly excited fans. At 6am those people knocked on the door of the of Cris’s bungalow and the hotel staff notified my office of the disturbance.The hotel staff told my front desk that they heard the people requesting a urine sample. In Thailand the only people who do this are police. Unable to contact Cris by phone My staff rang the local police to ask why they would send people to her residence.
The police stated they had no knowledge of any officers at that hotel, and sent a patrol car to investingate. It was after the police arrived that they discovered the pair was from Singapore.Speaking directly to Cris they learned that the testers where checked into the hotel to do their job of collecting a urine sample for testing and not on vacation.
The police further investigated the situation to discover that neither employee had a valid work permit and when questioned both individuals from Singapore failed to mention they were part of any international testing agency, instead informing the officers on site they were only in Phuket for Vacation. Allowing them to initially leave, the police later detained them upon reviewing paperwork completed during the testing. and later discovering that they were wearing uniforms and in the presence of work ID’s. Cris cyborg complied with the entire process, giving her sample as she was unaware of the issues with them not having a valid work permit until the test was completed and the local authorities arrived to investigate the situation.
The issue for the police was two part.
First The Singaporean collectors made false statements denying they were here working and to collect urine samples. In Thailand the country is big on saving “face” and having two Singaporeans lie about their purpose on the island did not sit well with them.
Second since they were here working without a permit they did not provide the country with the proper taxes for conducting business in Thailand.
To further escalate the situation one of the testers attempted to offer money to the Thai police in exchange for them to be let go without incident.Cris was uninvolved in the police and immigration issues other than providing answers to the police when questioned.
The entire process was started by the hotel staff notifying my front desk of a disturbance at our VIP guests residence and was further escalated by the false statements made to the police by the testing agency.
UFC women’s featherweight champion Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino is currently aiming for her first title defense against former women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm at December’s UFC 219 – and apparently she’s staying incredibly sharp in the meantime. Earlier today (Wed., September 20, 2017) Phuket Top Team in Thailand tweeted a video of her chasing down an […]
UFC women’s featherweight champion Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino is currently aiming for her first title defense against former women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm at December’s UFC 219 – and apparently she’s staying incredibly sharp in the meantime.
Earlier today (Wed., September 20, 2017) Phuket Top Team in Thailand tweeted a video of her chasing down an extremely unlucky male training partner in a drawn-out beating at the gym, further proving she’s the most dominant female fighter right now – and most likely of all-time.
Perhaps Edmond Tarverdyan should cool his jets on his desired Ronda Rousey comeback fight with Cyborg. Check it out here:
Late last month, Cris Cyborg finally had a UFC title wrapped around her waist. For years, the Brazilian has been considered to be one of the very best female fighters on the planet, and at UFC 214 (July 29, 2017), she became the undisputed UFC women’s featherweight champion with a third round stoppage victory over […]
Late last month, Cris Cyborg finally had a UFC title wrapped around her waist.
For years, the Brazilian has been considered to be one of the very best female fighters on the planet, and at UFC 214 (July 29, 2017), she became the undisputed UFC women’s featherweight champion with a third round stoppage victory over the tough Tonya Evinger.
Now, Cyborg has her sights set on her first title defense, and she’d like that to take place at UFC 219, which is set for Dec. 30, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada, against ex-bantamweight champion Holly Holm:
A post shared by CRIS CYBORG ????????? #ufc219 (@criscyborg) on
Holm famously knocked out Ronda Rousey at UFC 193 in Nov. 2015 to become the UFC 135-pound champion, but she then went on to lose three straight bouts to the likes of Miesha Tate, Valentina Shevchenko and Germaine de Randamie. The loss to de Randamie came in the inaugural women’s featherweight title fight at UFC 208 earlier this year.
Prior to her victory over Evinger, Cyborg had scored back-to-back stoppage victories over Leslie Smith and Lina Lansberg in 140-pound catchweight bouts.
Are you interested in seeing Cyborg and Holm face off?
