Yahoo Sports Cris Cyborg Claims Germaine de Randamie UFC Title Fight Set for July
Cris “Cyborg” Justino has announced that she will challenge featherweight champion Germaine de Randamie for the belt in July.
Cyborg on Wednesday posted to her Instagram account, saying, “July 29th, I will be making my first UFC fight in the USA!! I am excited the event will be in my American backyard of Orange County, California, and I am looking forward to putting on an exciting fight against (Germaine de Randamie)!
“I know many of my fans never thought they would see a day where I would be fighting for the UFC belt, but the time has come!”
UFC 214 takes place on July 29 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
Don't etch it on your stone calendar just yet, though. As of the time of publication, UFC officials had not confirmed the fight, and de Randamie's management told ESPN that there was no truth to the fight being booked for July 29.
UFC president Dana White has said that he would like to have Cyborg fight at UFC 214, but has not publicly indicated that there has been any movement toward booking a fight for her on the card. He has, however, publicly stated that if Jon Jones is ready to go by then, he would book him in a rematch with UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier for July 29.
The UFC had tried to book Cyborg for its inaugural women's featherweight championship in February, but Cyborg was busy dealing with recovery from the difficult weight cuts she had to endure to fight at 140 pounds. Her recovery also led to a potential anti-doping violation, which increased her time on the sidelines.
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The UFC moved forward with de Randamie defeating Holly Holm for the inaugural UFC featherweight championship.
While that was taking place, Cyborg cleared up her anti-doping situation and is now eligible to fight.
With de Randamie taking time off to deal with a hand injury, Cyborg has gotten antsy, and recently demanded on Twitter that the UFC needed to either book her for a fight or release her from her contract, which is reportedly set to expire, whether she gets a fight or not, in October.
There are a lot of moving parts in a scenario like this. It's quite possible that Cyborg has been guaranteed to fight at UFC 214, but negotiations may be such that her opponent isn't as concrete as she'd like it to be.
Regardless, it will take a little more time for the air to clear.