'Cyborg' drops to bantamweight in December; could Ronda Rousey fight be far behind?
A potential fight between Ronda Rousey and Cris "Cyborg" Justino is closer than it has ever been.
Justino will officially drop down to the women's bantamweight division for Invicta FC's event Dec. 5, the UFC announced Monday. The card will air live on UFC Fight Pass. Justino's opponent has not been made official.
The fact that the UFC is promoting Justino's appearance on its digital network speaks volumes about the potential of an eventual bout with Rousey in 2015. Invicta FC president Shannon Knapp wouldn't stand in the way of the fight happening -- she predicted it would go down inside of 2014 before the year started.
For the past two years, Rousey-Justino has been the biggest-drawing women's bout the UFC could put on. Rousey, the UFC women's champion, has thrown shade at Cyborg every chance she gets. Justino has done the same. There's little doubting that the two are the best female fighters in the world. Cyborg, the former Invicta FC and Strikeforce 145-pound champion, has not lost an MMA bout since 2005 and has finished all but two of her opponents.
The two things standing in the way of it happening have been Justino's weight class (previously 145 pounds) and her history with performance-enhancing drugs. The former should be taken care of in December, though Cyborg has said multiple times in the past that a cut to 135 would be dangerous to her health. UFC president Dana White has made a major issue of her being stripped of the Strikeforce title for testing positive for steroids in 2011.
But past PED usage has never been a deal-breaker in MMA. Interestingly, Vitor Belfort, the poster boy for the now-banned testosterone replacement therapy, will be challenging for the UFC middleweight title against Chris Weidman on Dec. 6, one day after Cyborg competes for Invicta FC.
The undefeated Rousey, coming off a 16-second destruction of Alexis Davis in July, wants to get back into the Octagon at UFC on Jan. 3. The timing wouldn't be right for a Cyborg bout then, but Rousey could meet Bethe Correia, Gina Carano or even Cat Zingano, if Zingano beats Amanda Nunes at UFC 178 on Saturday.
Could Justino be next after that? It'll all depend on how the weight cut goes and whether she wins in December, of course.
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The UFC also announced that Invicta FC women's flyweight champion Barb Honchak will defend her title against Takayo Hashi on Nov. 1 in Davenport, Iowa. It'll be the first time Invicta FC will leave its home base of Kansas City, Mo.
Honchak (9-2) has won seven straight with notable victories over Felice Herrig, Aisling Daly, Roxanne Modafferi and Leslie Smith. Hashi (15-4-1) will be making her Invicta FC debut. She is undefeated in her past three bouts with a notable win over Modafferi.
