Outside of Ronda Rousey, Cris Cyborg (aka Cristiane Justino) is the biggest name in women’s MMA, but because of her inability to come down to the UFC’s 135-pound division, she has yet to hold UFC gold in her MMA career. Recently, UFC President Dana White revealed that Cyborg turned down two opportunities to fight for the inaugural UFC women’s featherweight title. Shortly after that, Cyborg went on to explain her decision.
“What’s crazy about that is this: I offered Cris Cyborg a title fight at 145 pounds a month ago. She had eight weeks to get ready for it. She said she couldn’t make weight, she couldn’t make 145 pounds,” Dana White told the UFC Unfiltered podcast. “So then I offered her another 145-pound title fight for Brooklyn (UFC 208), she turned it down. She turned down two 145-pound title fights. One because she said she couldn’t make 145 pounds in eight weeks, and Joe Silva’s like, ‘If she can’t make 145 pounds in eight weeks, 145 isn’t the right weight class for her either.”
Dana White said that the two fights that Cris Cyborg turned down was against Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie. Cyborg has fought in the UFC twice—both at a catchweight of 140 pounds. She won both of those fights via devastating knockouts. MMA Fighting reached out to Cris Cyborg to comment on White’s claims. And in a lengthy statement that you can read here, she explained her side of the story.
Among the things Cris Cyborg said was that she almost died during her last weight cut, calling it “the worst weight cut of her life.” Cyborg also said that her nutritionist, George Lockhart, who is a UFC employee, didn’t do an effective job, and that she would never work with him again. She added that apart from the toll the weight cut had on her health, she is also battling “severe depression.” Cyborg ended saying, “I’ll soon be fighting in my division where I’m the world champion,” adding that she will be ready to fight in March.
