Yahoo Sports Cris Cyborg: The UFC’s Conundrum
Cris “Cyborg” Justino has dominated the women’s 145-pound division for a decade. After dropping her professional mixed martial arts debut in May 2005, the Brazilian has annihilated her competition. 15 of her 17 wins have been by knockout.
Cyborg is under UFC contract, but also holds the Invicta FC featherweight title. She’s a big star in her native country of Brazil. She’s arguably the most dominant champion in the sport today, but the UFC doesn’t have a women’s featherweight division.
There’s money to be made with Cyborg, and the UFC has a plan.
“For me, Cyborg is already the featherweight champion even though we don’t have that division. There is no one to fight her. No one comes close to her in this division,” said UFC Vice President and General Manager of Brazil Giovani Luis Decker.
Justino presents a problem for the fight promotion. She’s well known, she’s exciting, but no one is lining up to fight her. Her UFC bouts have been catchweight bouts at 140 poounds.
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“What I see for her is for her to continue to do these catchweight (fights) when there’s interesting fights for her,” said Decker during the UFC Brasilia post-fight press conference.
Despite not having her weight class, the Las Vegas-based fight promotion has a plan for Justino’s career.
“I think we’re doing a career plan for Cyborg,” said Decker. “In her first event, she fought in the biggest event in the history of Brazil in her native city in front of 45,000 people. Her second fight was a main event in Brazil, an event that was on air for about 50 million people.”
After her win on Saturday, Cyborg plans to go on vacation. In the meantime, the UFC has to find a suitable opponent for her to face next.
“I think it has to be an interesting fight for Cyborg, catchweights against top fighters. We’re going to have to study our options and maybe find fighters that want to challenge her, fighters that are not as well ranked and want to fight at her weight,” he said. “That’s the way I see it. That’s the way I see her future in the UFC, a future that needs to be built.”
