On Tuesday night, the UFC announced that former women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie will be fighting for the inaugural UFC women’s featherweight title at UFC 208. Cris Cyborg (Cristiane Justino), widely considered as the most dominant women’s MMA fighter of all time, and the current Invicta 145-pound champion didn’t sound particularly pleased with the development.
“Everybody knows I’m the featherweight champion. I’m undefeated for 10 years in my division,” Cris Cyborg told MMA Fighting following the announcement of the Holly Holm-Germaine de Randamie title fight. “They put this belt only to sell the fight for the new MMA fans. For an example, Holly is coming off two consecutive losses and will fight for the belt. The real fight fans know what’s real.”
According to UFC President Dana White, Cris Cyborg was offered a title fight for the 145-pound belt a month ago against Holly Holm, which the Brazilian subsequently denied citing the inability to make the weight limit given the time constraints. She was then offered the same opportunity at UFC 208, but said she would only be ready to go back to fighting due to health reasons in March. UFC 208 is scheduled for Feb. 11 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
But despite her disapproval of the Holly Holm-Germaine de Randamie title bout, Cris Cyborg is glad that the UFC is finally creating a women’s 145-pound division. “I’m happy the UFC created my division. It’s been 11 years I’m fighting for women to have the same rights as men with several divisions,” Cyborg said.
Holly Holm shocked the world last year when she knocked out former bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey at UFC 193. In her next fight, she lost her title to Miesha Tate, and followed that up with another loss to Valentina Shevchenko. Despite the losing streak, she is still widely regarded as one of the best strikers in MMA. Germaine de Randamie is another elite striker who went 46-0 in her pro Muay Thai career.