Cristiane "Cyborg" Justino to debut at bantamweight for Invicta in December
The first tiny steps down the path that may lead to a match with UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey will be taken on Dec. 5, when Cristiane "Cyborg" Justino will make her 135-pound debut in the main event of an Invicta card that will be streamed on UFC FightPass.
No opponent or venue has been announced.
Since the night in 2012 that Rousey defeated Miesha Tate on Showtime to win the Strikeforce bantamweight title, there have been calls for a match between the ex-American Olympian and Justino, the Brazilian striker who'd held the Strikeforce 145-pound title.
UFC president Dana White has so far steadfastly refused to pit the two, citing a news conference Justino and then-manager Tito Ortiz held in which Ortiz said a doctor told Justino she could be risking her life trying to cut to 135 pounds. Ortiz, who is a longtime White nemesis, was hoping to make the fight at 145 pounds, the weight in which Rousey began her mixed martial arts career.
White also pointed to Justino's suspension for using a performance-enhancing drug in her Dec. 16, 2011, fight with Hiroko Yamanaka as a reason for not making the fight.
In an attempt to remove himself as an obstacle, Ortiz resigned as Justino's manager, but it did little to change White's mind.
Justino told Yahoo Sports earlier this year she used steroids before the Yamanaka fight as a way to help her make weight.
She said she was hurt by White's frequent disparaging comments about her looks and said she was always a big, even in her childhood days. She said she walks around at 170 pounds.
I don't need [steroids] for muscles. I always had muscles for as long as I remember. It's how I was born. I did it for the weight. It was a mistake, but it wasn't to cheat and get muscles. It was weight [loss].
White has more recently said that if Justino shows she can successfully, and safely, make 135, he'd at least consider a Rousey-Justino fight.
Rousey has cited Justino's use of performance-enhancing drugs as a reason she was wary of the fight because she feels Justino is undeserving. Rousey has frequently called for Olympic-style drug testing in MMA and told Yahoo Sports that Justino has used steroids for so long she no longer can be considered a woman.
I've said before, I don't care if she's injecting horse semen into her eyeballs, I'll fight her, but that's just my personal decision. But I can't make a decision for the whole division. I can't say it's the right thing. This girl has been on steroids for so long and [has been] injecting herself for so long that she's not even a woman anymore. She's an 'it.' It's not good for the women's division. It's not good at all.
The fight between the two, if made, would be a massive bout and likely the biggest women's match ever. Only a Rousey-Gina Carano fight could be considered bigger among the women. Carano is retired and has become an actress, but the UFC has been negotiating with her for a return.
