Cris “Cyborg” Justino’s Tuesday started out well with her becoming an American citizen. Then, Dana White and the UFC helped it take a quick turn for the worse.
It was announced yesterday that the UFC will hold the inaugural female Featherweight Championship bout at UFC 208 on February 11 between Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie, which Justino took as a huge slap to the face. As you know, Justino has fought featherweight for most of her career and is widely considered the best 145-pound women’s fighter in the world. She’s simply been competing at catchweight in the UFC – where she has defeated both of her opponents by TKO – because she had no other options.
Justino released a statement to FOX Sports in which she said the news of her not being a part of the first featherweight title fight was “no surprise” and that it has always been personal between her and White. She also went on a lengthy Twitter rant about, well, everything.
The problem is there is no one to set the rankings in the @ufc they can take a girl with 2 straight losses and no fights in MMA at 145 https://t.co/rX2QFQcjzd
— Cris Cyborg (@criscyborg) December 14, 2016
You know what when you know your boss just doesn’t want to @MiddleEasy promote you even though you work hard for the company
— Cris Cyborg (@criscyborg) December 14, 2016
If the UFC is forcing me to 140 and they know they are making 145 why did they want me to kill myself to fight? @KevinI @ufc @YahooSports
— Cris Cyborg (@criscyborg) December 14, 2016
I’m tired of working for a boss who doesn’t like me
— Cris Cyborg (@criscyborg) December 14, 2016
It’s worth noting that White reportedly offered Justino fights on at least two different dates. She declined, but only because she wanted the fight to be pushed back until March to give her body time to rest following a brutal weight cut in September.
.@sports_god1 @UFCONFOX I was asking for more time to recover from a bad weight cut to 140 after being pressured to fight at that weight
— Cris Cyborg (@criscyborg) December 14, 2016
In response, White made it clear to ESPN that she was offered three fights: “This is a business,” he said. “I had two girls who wanted to fight for the 145-pound title. This is the pros. If you play for the Patriots, you don’t sit around and say, ‘I don’t feel like playing this weekend.”
