Ronda Rousey Vs. Cris Cyborg Finally Happening?
The biggest potential super fight in the women’s division, and possibly in entire UFC, is still a possibility according to UFC president Dana White.
While speaking with comedian Jim Norton and former UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra on the UFC Unfiltered Podcast, the UFC president said that former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is interested in fighting Cris Cyborg at 140 pounds.
“Ronda wants to fight [Cyborg]. We’ll have to figure out the weight, but Ronda wants to do that fight. She could do it at 140.”
White: Ronda Rousey interested in fighting Cris Cyborg, could do it at 140 (@davedoylemma) https://t.co/9C9JphrqE5 pic.twitter.com/SLdE27F6HH
— MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) September 27, 2016
A Rousey vs. Cyborg match up has been discussed ever since the two were competing in Strikeforce. Of course, the UFC ended up purchasing Strikeforce in 2011, and they brought Rousey in two years later. There’s a chance that Cyborg would’ve come to the UFC along with Rousey, but following what would end up being her final bout in Strikeforce, she was suspended after testing positive for PEDs. She didn’t fight again until two years later.
Cyborg made her UFC debut in May of this year, as she completely destroyed Leslie Smith. Her second fight took place this past Saturday night, and she, once again, won in dominant fashion, knocking out Lina Lansberg in the second round.
After her win over Lansberg on Saturday, UFC commentator Joe Rogan suggested that the UFC should add a women’s featherweight [145 pounds] division, so that Cyborg won’t have to “kill herself” to get down to 140 pounds. But, during the aforementioned UFC Unfiltered Podcast, Dana White said that the UFC isn’t planning on opening a 145-pound women’s division.
“I don’t think so, I think, first of all, there aren’t enough 145-pound female fighters to start a 145-pound division. There just isn’t. You know? Cyborg is this one girl floating out there who had that type of star power. She headlined Brazil for us.”
During her reign as UFC women’s bantamweight champion, Rousey said she wouldn’t fight Cyborg unless she could make it down to 135 pounds, and instead of making an effort to drop weight, Cyborg decided to get even bigger than she already was, making impossible for her to make it down to the bantamweight limit of 135 pounds.
Over the last year, both Holly Holm and Miesha Tate have volunteered to fight Cyborg at a catchweight, and while those two fights would be a big deal, neither of them seemed to have the mass appeal that a Rousey vs. Cyborg fight would have.
Cyborg really struggles to make it down to 140 pounds. In fact, according to MMA Fighting, she was allowed to weigh in at 141.5 for her last fight. So even though it’s quite clear that she struggles to make it down to 140, she has said that she’d be willing to fight at the weight again if she was offered a big fight, and there is no bigger fight for her than a fight with Ronda Rousey.
Up until now, Rousey’s UFC future has been very much in question. She hasn’t fought since her loss to Holly Holm last November, and since the loss, she’s been doing a lot of movie and television work. So it looks like she’s beginning to make the transition into being a full-time Hollywood star.
Most assumed that if Rousey ever fought again, she’d either want to avenge her one and only loss to Holly Holm, or she’d go after the current bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes. Of course, both of those fights are still possible, because there’s a chance that the Cyborg fight falls apart during negotiations. But, regardless of who she fights, Rousey’s return will be a big deal.
[Featured Image by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images]
