USADA Clears Cris Cyborg: Is UFC Women’s Featherweight Championship Next?
Cristiane Justino — better known by her MMA nickname Cris Cyborg or just simply Cyborg — just got good news pertaining to her investigation for a possible doping violation charges. The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) just cleared her of said charges. This puts Cyborg next in line for the Women’s Featherweight Championship in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
According to a written article by the Bleacher Report, they report that Cris Cyborg will not face suspension from the USADA for a failed drug test. The USADA provided an official statement to the public pertaining to their decision on Friday, February 17, on their official website.
“USADA announced today that UFC athlete Cristiane Justino, of Curitiba, Brazil, has been granted a retroactive Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) and will therefore not face an anti-doping policy violation after testing positive for a prohibited substance in December of 2016.”
For those who did not know about Cris Cyborg being reported for a possible doping violation, it was first brought up last year, as reported by the official website for UFC. She was flagged with said potential violation by the USADA during an out-of-competition sample collected on December 5. We now know Cyborg was flagged for Spironolactone which is listed as a “prohibited substance in the category of Diuretics and Masking Agents.” We also know it was not specifically used for competition purposes but for a common endocrine disorder she has.
“Upon notice of her positive test, Justino immediately identified a medication prescribed by her physician for the treatment of a common endocrine disorder as the source of the prohibited substance detected in her sample. She also participated in multiple interviews with USADA’s investigative team and consented to USADA interviewing her physician as well.”
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It is a saving grace for Cris Cyborg that the USADA cleared her of the doping violations and the drug involved was not linked to combat but her own personal health. If Cyborg were to be found guilty of doping, all of her anti-fans would jump on her for being a cheater as she was previously flagged for doping right after her fight against Hiroko Yamanaka. As a result of that investigation, Cyborg’s win was overturned to a “No Contest” and is the second negative mark on her record alongside her one and only loss in her MMA debut against Erica Paes.
Also, if Cris Cyborg were found guilty of doping, she would have surely been suspended. It is unknown how long the suspension would be, but it would come at one of the worst times for her as UFC now has a Women’s Featherweight Division. On February 11, UFC crowned its inaugural champion in the new weight division when Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie fought for the title at UFC 208: Holm vs. de Randamie. After five rounds, de Randamie became the new champion.
It is only natural for UFC to have Germaine de Randamie defend her championship against Cris Cyborg as the latter is now recognized as the “best female fighter in the world” more so than Ronda Rousey now that her record is far superior. There is a bit of chatter that de Randamie is “ducking Cyborg” with an excuse about needing hand surgery, but true MMA fans know Cyborg wants to fight someone at 100 percent.
With that in mind, that is most likely why Cris Cyborg did not take on the inaugural championship fight for the UFC Women’s Featherweight Championship. She was given short notice and probably wouldn’t have enough time to make weight. Thanks to insider videos, we now know just how rough weight cutting truly is. All one has to do is look at Cyborg’s documentary, the intense weight cutting scene or how Miesha Tate’s weight cutting prior to defending the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship against Amanda Nunes.
Cris Cyborg overall record is 17-1-0 (1) but her UFC record is 2-0-0. She made her debut against Leslie Smith at UFC 198: Werdum vs. Miocic and made her return against Lina Länsberg at UFC Fight Night: Cyborg vs. Länsberg. Cyborg won both of her fights via TKO with punches.
[Featured Image by Buda Mendes/Getty Images]
