While Ronda Rousey has a fight coming up against huge underdog Bethe Correia at UFC 190, many feel that the only woman who can really stand up to her is Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino. Despite the past Justino had with performance-enhancing drugs, she is still the scariest and one of the most skilled female athletes on the planet.
Wait a minute, says Rousey. According to the UFC’s women’s bantamweight champion, Cyborg is not skilled at all.
“She’s one of those people where it’s all just ‘roids and muscle and no technique. No anything,” Rousey said on a recent episode of Howard Stern (Transcription via MMA Fighting). She referenced the fight Justino had against Gina Carano in 2009. Cyborg won via brutal first-round TKO back then, but yet, “Rowdy” isn’t impressed.
“She tried to throw her and pulled mount twice,” Rousey said. “Her technique just sucks and she just manhandles her way out of it. […] She just had a Muay Thai fight and got dropped six times. She has no chin at all.”
Justino lost to Jorina Baars at Lion Fight last year. A potential women’s superfight between Rousey and Justino has been talked about for years, but never came about due to the weight difference between the two. Justino says she’s not able to make Rousey’s 135-pound weight limit, while the UFC champion refuses to step up a division for Justino.
However, the real problem is not the weight, it’s that Cyborg is scared to fight her, says Rousey.
“Of course she is,” Rousey told Stern. “What she wants is enough money that she could take a loss for it.”
It took Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao five years to come to terms on their megafight in boxing. And five years Rousey is willing to wait, before she will check off the thought of ever fighting arch enemy Justino, so she is giving the Brazilian bulldozer a deadline.
“Me and Cyborg, this talk has been happening for about three years. She’s got two more years to really step up, get herself in the UFC and fight me.”
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