Ronda Rousey Rips Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Justino, Calls Her A ‘Cheating Con Artist’
When MMA fans talk about a possible fight between UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey and Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino, they refer to it as the female version of Floyd Mayweather, Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao. Of course, Rousey vs. Cyborg likely wouldn’t generate the amount of revenue that Mayweather and Pacquiao did, but the comparison stems from Rousey who, like Floyd Mayweather, is the most dominant champion in her sport, going up against Cyborg who, like Manny Pacquiao, is someone that many fans feel can finally be the one that knocks the champ off the top of the mountain. If the fight did end up happening, it would be the most hyped and anticipated bout in women’s MMA history.
There are plenty of issues that are stopping a fight between Cyborg and Rousey. One of them is the fact that Cyborg isn’t in the UFC, and the other is the fact that Cyborg fights at a heavier weight class and walks around at a much heavier weight than Rousey does, thus making it extremely difficult for her to cut down to Rousey’s fighting weight of 135 pounds.
Rousey is, of course, well aware of the fact that every UFC fan wants to see a fight between herself and Cyborg. During her appearance on the Howard Stern Show, Rousey ripped Cyborg, saying that she’s “obviously abusing performance-enhancing drugs,” and calling her a “cheating con artist.”
“She’s very obviously been abusing performance-enhancing drugs for a long time, to the point her jawline, her hands and feet, everything is just morphed by what she’s done to her body. I use the term ‘her’ lightly.
“I have to think about what sends the right message, I’m not going to do backflips for a cheating con artist. And to be honest, if you can make 145 juiced the f**k up on steroids, you can get off of them and move down. This chick, her whole life, has had advantages that she didn’t earn.”
Rousey is also confident that she would defeat Cyborg even if she fought her in her weight class, but Rousey is not willing to do that, saying that if the fight is going to happen, then Cyborg needs to make it down to 135 pounds.
“Of course I would (win at 135, even if she was 145). Would I do that? No. She’d have to make 135 just like everybody else, and would have to be clean just like everybody else. There’s no reason she should get a special set of rules just because she cheated for a long time and got a reputation.”
Rousey is scheduled to defend her UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship against Bethe Correia on August 1 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. If Rousey defeats Correia, there really isn’t anyone left for her to fight, so the UFC may end up inviting Cyborg to come in and face Rousey due to the lack of challengers.
[Image via Jeff Gross / Getty Images]
