Without a fight scheduled in the foreseeable future, it’s time Cyborg throws around a new opponent.
The UFC women’s featherweight champion is on the sidelines due to her perceived opponent Amanda Nunes waiting to fight. So Cyborg branched out into other athletics by attending the Los Angeles Chargers training camp this summer.
There, Cyborg participated in a variety of football-related activities, catching passes and kicks, and showing some of the players her own moves. She even ragdolled former NFL wide receiver and Chargers coach Phil McGeoghan with a judo throw.
Yesterday (Fri., May 11, 2018) the MMA world was entranced with Mackenzie Dern’s egregious weight miss for her scheduled bout with Amanda Cooper at tonight’s UFC 224 from Rio de Janeiro.
It wasn’t so much that the miss itself was surprising; Dern had missed weight twice before in her six-fight MMA career.
You may ask why it’s such a big deal, as UFC fighters miss weight all the time to the point it’s a seemingly weekly occurrence during early weigh-ins for each respective card. True, it is – yet Dern’s repeated issues for making weight have now seen her go from making the strawweight non-title fight limit of 116 pounds for her first UFC bout in March to missing it by almost a full weight class for her second may reveal some larger issues at play here.
Dern missed weight for both her second and third MMA bouts against Montana Stewart and Katherine Roy, and her fourth, a submission win over Mandy Polk in LFA last October, was contested at a catchweight bout of 120 pounds. That was a nice concession made by the promotion for Dern in order to retain the hype she brings, but it’s not going to be one made every time she steps into the octagon.
The weight issues were bad enough, yet Dern’s recent “request to leave” Arizona’s MMA Lab, the gym where she got her start in MMA, by head coach John Crouch because of so-called commitment issues suggest Dern may not have all of her mental capacity in the fight game. In fact, she’s admitted as much, declaring that she doesn’t want to be in the gym training every day and would rather balance that with going to the beach and partying in clubs like a normal 25-year-old woman.
Understandable for sure, but those two things don’t really mix with a top-level Brazilian jiu-jitsu champion rising up the fulfill the almost unattainable hype that’s been heaped onto Dern as the “next Ronda Rousey” of female MMA ever since she began her pro fight career in July 2016. Add that to the already monstrous pressure of remaining unbeaten due to her accomplished BJJ accolades, and we have a hype machine that may be fighting itself at all turns.
There’s an easy fix to all this, however.
As we’ve seen with current UFC women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg, moving up to a more natural class can work wonders for a career.
Cyborg was forced to make absolutely ridiculous cuts to 140-pound catchweight bouts in her early UFC run while there was still an outside possibility she could still fight Ronda Rousey at 135 pounds; the fact that it almost got her killed was well-documented. That nonsense stopped shortly thereafter, and despite still cutting a large amount of weight to make 145, Cyborg has since gone to win the title and defend it while becoming a bankable star for the UFC during a time they need them most.
If Dern is to live up to her potential, it’s probably time for her to do the same, and there couldn’t be a better time to make the change. The UFC just instituted a women’s 125-pound division that is struggling to get off the ground as champion Nicco Montano drags her feet on a title bout with former bantamweight contender Valentina Shevchenko, so injecting Dern into that mix would give the division the instant shot in the arm it badly needs.
Cooper criticized her for not being professional, and while the huge miss made her look bad yesterday, it’s the UFC and the athletic commissions sanctioning Dern’s fights that will begin to look silly if they continue booking her and letting her fight at strawweight when she comes in so heavy.
The body shaming, Internet hate, and overall disgusting backlash is no doubt unnecessary from fans who may or may not know what it’s like to cut a drastic amount of weight – and most certainly don’t know what it’s like to carry the hype and pressure Dern does, but we can’t say that she didn’t open herself up to it.
She also made it worse on herself by admitting she didn’t want to train every day after the coach at her inaugural MMA gym asked her to leave because she wasn’t devoted enough. So aside from missing weight and looking foolish that way, Dern could also start to appear entitled, undedicated, and simply not grateful for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity she’s both worked hard for and been granted by the UFC’s hype machine.
We don’t know what Dern has done to get here on a personal level, and we don’t know how hard it is to maintain the level of success that’s expected of her. Few truly do or have in the still-growing sport of women’s MMA.
But that’s why it’s a shame to see her seemingly not respect the opportunity she has.
Thankfully, there’s a quick fix. Now it’s up to her to make it.
She may essentially be retired from MMA, but Ronda Rousey is still drawing the attention of the sport’s top female fighter. Rousey made a successful WWE pro-wrestling debut at April’s WrestleMania 34 and in the days since, she’s seemingly opened up about a litany of topics in interviews. The hottest topic, of course, is her […]
She may essentially be retired from MMA, but Ronda Rousey is still drawing the attention of the sport’s top female fighter.
Rousey made a successful WWE pro-wrestling debut at April’s WrestleMania 34 and in the days since, she’s seemingly opened up about a litany of topics in interviews.
The hottest topic, of course, is her precipitous MMA downfall brought by losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes and how she’s chosen to deal with it. The legendary former UFC women’s bantamweight champion recently admitted she never learned how to lose, and that she was tired of fighting but felt obligated to carry the division she made famous. But a more controversial statement also came from the “Rowdy” one when she said that ‘hearing her speak was a privilege’ and one the media had abused.
The words have drawn the ire of prominent women’s MMA names like Miesha Tate and even longtime Rousey rival Cris Cyborg, who told EsNews (via MMA Junkie) that considering what she’s been through, she hoped Rousey was respectful to people:
“I think I don’t need to tell her anything. I think life has taught her a lot of things. I think a lot of things happened through her life and her career. I hope she’s learned something from that. Be humble and respect people. I think this is most important.”
An ambiguous well-wishing to be sure, yet Cyborg followed it up with a more forceful suggestion that if Rousey was done fighting, she was running away from her issues and therefore nothing had changed:
“I don’t know her in person. I think if she’s not coming back to fight and she’s running away, that’s not going to change anything. But I’m not here to judge anybody.”
“Rowdy” vs. Cyborg was long considered the top women’s fight the UFC could book but after years of back-and-forth fluff involving Rousey forcing Cyborg to cut down to an unattainable 135 pounds allegedly due to her history with performance-enhancing drugs, it fizzled before it ever took off the ground. The fight was never really close to actually happening, and that may be a good thing considering Rousey’s problems with elite strikers in her final fights.
Cyborg has moved on to her rightful spot as the dominant UFC women’s featherweight champion, and she’s also passed Rousey as the greatest women’s combatant in MMA history.
Despite that fact, however, we may never hear Cyborg’s opinions of Rousey stop, especially if the former champion continues to suggest it’s a privilege for the media to hear her speak.
The landscape of the UFC featherweight division has changed drastically since Conor McGregor absconded from the 145-pound weight class. Most notably, the ascension of Max Holloway and Brian Ortega through the featherweight ranks has reinvigorated a weight class that had been under McGregor’s control prior to the Irishman’s departure for lightweight and catchweight glory, and […]
The landscape of the UFC featherweight division has changed drastically since Conor McGregor absconded from the 145-pound weight class.
Most notably, the ascension of Max Holloway and Brian Ortega through the featherweight ranks has reinvigorated a weight class that had been under McGregor’s control prior to the Irishman’s departure for lightweight and catchweight glory, and now, boxing and legal issues due to his April 5 Brooklyn arrest.
However, that won’t stop fighters from understandably imitating his style, and Ortega has noticed a slew of McGregor imitators in “The Notorious’” absence. During a recent media appearance, the 27-year-old contender called them out for their unoriginality (via MMA Junkie):
“There’s only one Conor. Everybody who’s tried to be like Conor, you can tell they’re just fronting.
“You can easily see, you can tell by the way the go in there – you’re just like, ‘Come on. Shut up.’”
“For me, I’m just me. That’s what I realized the best thing to be is. When I talk to people, they’re like, especially getting into the sport, (they’re like), ‘Oh, you’ve got to be a character. You’ve got to be this.’ And my coach told – and I don’t know if I can cuss or not – but he goes, ‘F-ck that.’ He’s like, ‘Just be you, bro. You don’t have to lie on the thing. You don’t have to pretend. You don’t have to remember some thing you made up before.’ He goes, ‘Just be you, and you can’t go wrong with being you.’
“So that’s what we did, and I’m happy I stuck to it, man. Because I’m just me. If I ever get pissed off, I’m legitimately pissed off. So far it hasn’t happened.”
UFC President Dana White has often told the press that fighters should look to emulate McGregor’s style of self-promotion, which helps to explain the influx of characters like Colby Covington and Dillon Danis, who seem to be reading directly from the Conor McGregor playbook.
For Ortega, it’s his performances that do the promotion, not the trash talk. Ortega became the first man to ever knock out the ever-durable Frankie Edgar at UFC 222 in March.
Do you agree with Ortega’s assessment of McGregor imitators flooding the UFC and MMA in general?
UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway did his best to save the day after Tony Ferguson pulled out of his lightweight title fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov at April 7’s UFC 223, but weight cutting issues prevented him from doing so. After medical officials deemed him unfit to compete, Holloway is moving on and looking forward to […]
UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway did his best to save the day after Tony Ferguson pulled out of his lightweight title fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov at April 7’s UFC 223, but weight cutting issues prevented him from doing so.
After medical officials deemed him unfit to compete, Holloway is moving on and looking forward to his next fight, which he’s hoping will take place at the blockbuster UFC 226 event this summer.
Holloway last defended his belt against Jose Aldo for a second time at UFC 218 late last year, and since his removal from UFC 223 wasn’t injury-related unlike his UFC 22 withdrawal a month prior, ‘Blessed’ is ready to go.
The obvious candidate for Holloway’s next title defense is Brian Ortega, who replaced Holloway and knocked out the always-durable Frankie Edgar at UFC 222.
Holloway (19-3) is gunning for a spot on UFC 226 on July 7, which will feature a super fight between light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier and heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic.
Holloway would have had the chance to win the lightweight title if his weight cutting hadn’t prevented him from taking on Nurmagomedov, who ultimately took on Al Iaquinta and defeated him to win the interim UFC lightweight strap.
How does Holloway vs. Ortega at UFC 226 sound to you?
While he doesn’t have a title defense scheduled as of now, UFC 170-pound champion Tyron Woodley has been keeping his name in the headlines with his varied opinions on topics ranging from the rumored creation of an interim 170-pound title to boxing great Floyd Mayweather’s chances in his rumored MMA debut. ‘The Chosen One’ thinks […]
While he doesn’t have a title defense scheduled as of now, UFC 170-pound champion Tyron Woodley has been keeping his name in the headlines with his varied opinions on topics ranging from the rumored creation of an interim 170-pound title to boxing great Floyd Mayweather’s chances in his rumored MMA debut.
‘The Chosen One’ thinks Mayweather could one day be successful in mixed martial arts, but many close to the UFC, including UFC featherweight champ Max Holloway, tend to disagree.
‘Blessed’ unveiled his feelings on the subject during a recent appearance on The MMA Hour, suggesting that the 41-year-old ‘Money’ wasn’t really going to fight in the UFC:
“In boxing, he’s greatest. There’s no hate towards him. He finished smart, he made a lot of money, he changed the sport in a lot of ways, and he got there using his brains and being smart … and not being humiliated.
“You guys really believe this guy is going to take an MMA fight, at however old he is right now, against a young guy that’s tough who people consider one of the best in the sport? It just blows my mind, man. If people believe that kind of stuff, it’s wild. I really don’t know what to say.”
For some reason, ‘Money’ has been rumored to make his UFC debut since he finished UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor in the tenth round of their farcical, over-the-top boxing spectacle last August.
The all-time great kicked off that talk by posting a cryptic video of himself setting foot into an MMA cage and claiming he could sign a monstrous contract with the UFC.
Woodley fanned those flames by stating Mayweather would be successful in MMA on UFC Tonight, and he’s consistently kept up the talk on other shows like his own ‘Hollywood Beatdown’ on TMZ.
“Blessed” is a fan of “The Chosen One,” but he thinks the 1700-pound king is getting a little ridiculous with the hype, so much so that he wonders if Woodley is a UFC champion or a “TMZ reporter”:
“I mean, I love Woodley,” Holloway said. “Woodley’s the man. He’s a great dude, but I swear he talks about everything. He’s talking about everything. Whatever you can talk about, he talks about it. That guy is always on TMZ or something, so he wants to be talked about all of the time, that’s it. Woodley, you are the man, brother, but I think it’s a PR stunt.
“How can you not think it’s not a PR stunt? I don’t know. This guy is always — every time I see on Twitter something retweeting about TMZ, it’s Tyron Woodley talking about it. So it’s like, gosh, is this guy a champion or is he a TMZ reporter? What is going on, my friend?”
As he picks and chooses his opponent during a recovery from shoulder surgery, Woodley isn’t making any new fans even though he has, in reality, been one of the most consistent and active UFC champions over the past two years.
And even though Holloway claims he’s one of them, the featherweight champion may have a throng of fans who agree wholeheartedly with his callout of “The Chosen One.”
