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Germaine De Randamie ‘Had No Idea’ She Was Being Stripped Of Title

After she publicly refused to fight consensus top contender Crsitiane “Cyborg” Justino, there were rumors that the UFC would strip former women’s featherweight champion Germaine de Randamie of her title even though she only won it at February’s UFC 208. Today, the promotion did just that, stripping de Randamie of the gold and booking Cyborg […]

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Today, the promotion did just that, stripping de Randamie of the gold and booking Cyborg vs. Invicta 145-pound titleholder Megan Anderson for the main event of July 29’s suddenly stacked UFC 214 from Anaheim, California.

The move was expected in order to clear up the women’s featherweight landscape, which had no cohesion or direction after de Randamie won the belt in incredibly controversial fashion over Holm before essentially running from Cyborg and disappearing from the public eye. However, it apparently came as news to de Randamie, who told MMA Fighting that she found out she had been stripped when she saw Cyborg vs. Anderson was made official online:

“I had absolutely no idea that I was being stripped of the belt. I found out through social media. Cyborg (Justino) is going to fight Megan (Anderson) for the belt.

“Nobody ever told me anything about it.”

Yet the move was expected by the vast majority of the MMA world, and the UFC saw her refusal to fight Cyborg as a decision that obviously made her expendable. In a statement on UFC.com, the promotion explained their position, citing de Randamie’s refusal to fight the top contender as threatening to the ‘integrity of the sport’:

“UFC has informed Germaine de Randamie and her management team that she is being removed as the women’s featherweight champion due to her unwillingness to fight the No. 1 ranked contender, Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino. Subsequently, top contender Justino will face newly signed Invicta FC featherweight champion Megan Anderson for the UFC women’s featherweight title in the co-main event of UFC® 214: CORMIER vs. JONES 2, July 29 in Anaheim, Calif.

UFC maintains that any champion is expected to accept fights against the top contenders in their respective weight classes in order to maintain the integrity of the sport.”

While a simple structured system where the champions fight top contenders is exactly what countless fans have been clamoring for throughout the UFC’s rough start to 2017, in truth it’s clear to see that the UFC will make exceptions to this so-called effort to ‘maintain the integrity of the sport,’ as both Conor McGregor and Michael Bisping have been allowed to choose their opponents, for better or worse.

Those names are much bigger than de Randamie’s, of course, and with a massive loan being worked on by new UFC owner’s WME-IMG, “The Iron Lady” clearly wasn’t in a position to be calling her shots, especially when women’s featherweight was essentially created to showcase Cyborg’s dominance. De Randamie was only brought on a late replacement when Cyborg wasn’t able to fight Holm at UFC 208.

The division doesn’t really have any other fighters outside of Cyborg and Anderson right now, but with de Randamie refusing to fight Cyborg due to her questionable history with performance-enhancing drugs (and some would argue outright fear), the decision to strip her of the title because she wouldn’t fight the woman who most believe to the uncrowned champ was an easy one.

De Randamie wasn’t bringing in the bucks, and that’s what the UFC obviously cares about these days.

Just don’t say it was to simply uphold the “integrity of the sport.”

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Amanda Ribas Pulled From TUF 25 Finale Following USADA Flag

Amanda Ribas will no longer be competing on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 25 Finale. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) have informed the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) of Ribas’ potential drug violation. As a result, she has been pulled from the card and a replacement search is underway. The UFC provided a statement, which you can […]

Mark Hunt Calls Out ‘Cheating Bum’ Alistair Overeem After UFC Fight Night 110

In the main event of UFC Fight Night 110 last night (June 10, 2017) in Auckland, New Zealand, 43-year-old Mark Hunt got back in the win column with a fourth round TKO victory over the previously surging Derrick Lewis. Hunt clearly has some gas left in the tank, and it doesn’t look like “The Super […]

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“I don’t think so,” Hunt said at the post-fight press conference after being asked whether he was thinking about hanging up his gloves. “I like to get beat up. Shucks, there’s nothing else I’m good at. But I’ve got a couple of fights I want to finish. Why not see the contract out and then retire?”

Over the last year, Hunt has repeatedly made headlines in his fight against the use of performance-enhancing-drugs in mixed martial arts. He had his decision loss to Brock Lesnar at UFC 200 last July changed to a no-contest after it was made clear that Lesnar had failed a pair of drug tests and he suffered a loss to Alistair Overeem, who has his own history with PEDs, this past March.

In regards to that, Hunt hasn’t forgotten about Overeem, who he labeled a ‘cheating bum’:

“He’s always going to be a cheating bum to me, regardless of whether he beat me,” Hunt said Saturday at the post-fight presser. “All of his achievements, you don’t know whether they’re done by steroids or not. Sorry, Alistair, you’re a cheat.”

Hunt is currently taking part in a legal battle with the UFC over Lesnar’s failed tests, and he personally feels as if more can be done by the promotion to eliminate PEDs from the sport.

In 2015, the UFC brought in the help of third party testing organization USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency), but Hunt believes a stricter financial punishment must be put in place for fighters who test positive for banned substances:

“I think taking away the financial gains to start with,” Hunt said. “People say for me, it’s just a money grab. I think if you take away the financial incentive, then the cheaters will think twice. You take away the money, they wouldn’t do it. It’s just a clause in the contract saying the cheater doesn’t benefit at all. Because right now, it pays to cheat.”

Do you agree with “The Super Samoan” here?

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USADA Grants Ian McCall Retroactive TUE, Clearing Him of Violation

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has given Ian McCall a retroactive Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE). McCall was set to compete at UFC 208 back in February against Jarred Brooks. “Uncle Creepy” fell ill and had to be given an IV. His bout with Brooks was scrapped. Due to the circumstances, USADA will not be handing out a […]

Alexander Gustafsson Believes Jon Jones Was ‘On Something’ At UFC 165

After a dominant fifth round stoppage victory over Glover Teixeira in the main event of UFC Fight Night 109 late last month (May 28, 2017), No. 1-ranked UFC light heavyweight contender Alexander Gustafsson said that former champion Jon Jones, who edged out a closely contested decision over Gustafsson back in 2013, ‘was not a good […]

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On yesterday’s (June 5, 2017) edition of The MMA Hour, “The Mauler” reiterated these claims:

“No, I stand by it,” he said. “The thing is, they had a press conference after the fight and they asked me about Jon Jones and I told them the way I feel. I just told them the truth. I’m not a trash talker. I don’t trash talk, I don’t do that sh*t. But they asked me and I’m not going to lie. I just felt like, he’s probably the greatest fighter we’ve seen. But as a person, I don’t like him.

“I don’t like how he’s talking on the stage, doing the cocaine thing, with so many young people, kids and everything, looking up to him. I just feel like, man, come on. I don’t support that stuff at all. So I just told the media what I think of him.”

As far as ‘the cocaine thing’ goes, Gustafsson is referring to Jones’ 2015 failed drug test for cocaine metabolites, which came after his UFC 182 victory over current champion Daniel Cormier, who he’ll rematch at UFC 214 on July 29. The rematch will mark Jones’ first fight after serving a year long suspension from USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) for another failed drug test that occurred last July. This failed test, however, was for a banned substance.

Speaking on Jones’ issues outside of the cage, Gustafsson feels as if he’s ‘been getting caught for everything’:

“He’s been getting caught for everything, it feels like one thing after the other, but the way he was sitting on the stage with DC and he just said he did cocaine a week before he fought him,” he told Ariel Helwani. “He’s not even embarrassed telling that stuff, he’s just proud telling that stuff. For me it’s just, you don’t do that, come on — not [with] being such a good fighter.

“And he’s been doing so good, nobody’s been able to compete with him. He’s been pound-for-pound the best guy, and I believe he is. He hasn’t lost. He hasn’t lost yet to nobody. So that’s just how I feel.”

Jones had indeed been dominant throughout his 205-pound title reign, with his only close fight coming in the five round war against Gustafsson. His latest fight came at UFC 197 last year when he scored a lack luster decision victory over Ovince Saint Preux after spending over a year on the sidelines dealing with legal issues.

Jones came into that fight looking much larger than he had in previous fights. He cited a new found love for power lifting as the reason why. Gustafsson, however, was skeptical and even went as far to say the he feels Jones was on something when they fought each other:

“Well, you know, he hadn’t been in the cage for a long time when he fought him,” he said. “I don’t know. I don’t know if he was on it or not for that fight, but I believe he was when we fought and stuff like that. But anyway, it’s history now and new times are coming, and we probably will fight again some day.”

Since Gustafsson’s victory over Teixeira, him and Jones have been going back-and-forth on social media and a rematch could certainly take place in the future.

Would you like to see these two light heavyweight titans run it back?

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Dana White Confirms Cris Cyborg Will Still Fight At UFC 214

Yesterday, news came that Invicta FC featherweight champion Megan Anderson would defend her title at July 15’s Invicta FC 24, closing the door on her rumored contest with dominant former Invicta champion Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino at July 29’s UFC 214 – at least for now. Cyborg is currently awaiting the results of the battery charge […]

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Yesterday, news came that Invicta FC featherweight champion Megan Anderson would defend her title at July 15’s Invicta FC 24, closing the door on her rumored contest with dominant former Invicta champion Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino at July 29’s UFC 214 – at least for now.

Cyborg is currently awaiting the results of the battery charge she was dealt for punching women’s strawweight Angela Magana at the UFC fighter retreat two weeks ago, something that could potentially delay her octagon return after UFC President Dana White called the charges a “very serious” matter. Today, White appeared on the UFC’s “Unfiltered” podcast to give his personal opinion on the messy situation:

“But here’s the thing; if you’re Cyborg, you go up and let her know how you feel. Say, ‘you said all this mean shit about me, here’s what I think about you.’ Boom, boom. You walk away. Or just stay away from her the whole retreat. Listen, I’m not sitting here like, ‘Mr. I take the high road,’ because I never take the fuckin’ high road, but listen, assault is, you can’t go and assault somebody. You can’t do it.”

White then shifted the topic of discussion to Cyborg’s highly-publicized desire to fight at UFC 214, insisting that even though it may not be against Anderson, the brutalizing female force would still fight at the card near her adopted American home in Anaheim, and it would still reportedly be in the main event after he insisted Jon Jones would not return to a main event:

“Cris Cyborg will fight in the main event, Cormier vs. Jon Jones. I’m working on it.”

With Anderson not an option and 145-pound women’s champ Germaine de Randamie clearly ducking Justino, a bout with former UFC women’s bantamweight title contender Cat Zingano has been discussed for Cyborg, even though she hasn’t been all that enthusiastic about it because Zingano hasn’t won a fight since 2014.

White revealed Zingano was very encouraged about the potential main event fight, but some lingering physical ailments unfortunately meant she won’t be ready by July 29:

“No, Cat Zingano wants to, and we were looking at Cat Zingano, but Cat’s not ready physically. She still has some, she’s been out for awhile because she has some physical issues she was dealing with; she’s not gonna be ready. Oh, she wants the Cyborg fight. She wants it fight. Oh yeah, Cat’s tough, she’s fighter, she’s gritty.”

So we have a sort of confirmation from White that the world’s most dominant female fighter will fight at UFC 214, but with the card already going down next month, it’s far from guaranteed we’ll see Justino in the main event. There simply aren’t many 145-pound or 135-pound women out there willing to take what most would perceive as a one-sided beatdown, even if it dos come with arguably the largest payday and media attention in women’s MMA right now.

But as always White is “working on it,” so fans will just have to wait and see what his efforts produce for the main event of UFC 214.

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