Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino recently received some good news, as she's free to compete after USADA cleared her of any wrongdoing after a potential failed drug test in 2016, and provided her a retroactive therapeutic use exemption.
Cyborg is also a longtime rival of former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey. Rival or not, she cannot understand why Rousey even competed at UFC 207.
"I really don’t understand why she fight straight for the belt right after her loss to Holly Holm,” Cyborg said on The MMA Hour. "One year, no fight, you know? She fights someone, Amanda, with a lot of fights in the year already, and she’s one year off. I think she needed one fight, get a win and be confident again, and go for the belt. I think it's hard to fight straight for the belt, somebody fights all year and she’s one year off. I really think if I’m managing someone, I don’t do like this. I’d give more fights for her, and she get confident again. Because after the Holly Holm fight, it broke her mind."
The current Invicta Fighting Championships Featherweight Champion has fought twice in the UFC, defeating both Leslie Smith and Lina Lansberg. UFC return imminent, Cyborg still wants to fight Rousey, but she also wants to make it clear that she holds no hate for her rival.
"I never hated Ronda,” Cyborg said. "She’s always talked about me, she did that to promote herself because when she started nobody knew her, and she talked about me for people to know who she is. And she opened the doors for women’s MMA. I think me and her fight is the biggest fight ever, but after she lost two fights… I really knew she cannot take a punch. I knew this, you know? And the fight is never gonna happen and never happened before because she knows what’s gonna happen. And a lot of people know what’s gonna happen. Same thing Amanda did, I’m gonna do worse. And everybody knows this, and this fight never happened."
At UFC 207, Rousey lost to current UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Amanda Nunes, the fight lasted all of 48 seconds.
