Cris Cyborg’s Road To Ronda Rousey Begins At ‘Invicta FC 15: Souza Vs. Grasso’ In November — ‘Cyborg’ Will Fight At 140 Pounds
Among those who enjoy MMA, Ronda Rousey is recognized as the best female MMA fighter in the sport. However, such a moniker for “Rowdy” is often argued. Some people say her claim to being the best is because she fights in UFC. If she were to go across all MMA promotions, probably the only one who can be argued at possibly being better than “Rowdy” is Cristiane Justino, better known as Cris Cyborg. The two details kept the two from fighting each other. The first is Rousey and Cyborg fight in different weight divisions. The second is they both fight in different MMA promotions.
Now, both of those hindering details have been remedied, as UFC has signed on Cris Cyborg to fight in the women’s bantamweight division. The weight issue is something Cyborg needs to work on. Once she hits 135 pounds, she’ll be allowed to take on Ronda Rousey. For now, Cyborg is continuing on her road to 135 pounds with her first stop being a fight at 140 pounds for Invicta FC 15: Souza vs. Grasso this coming November.
The announcement for Cris Cyborg to compete at a 140 pound catchweight was made by Invicta FC president Shannon Knapp at the press conference following Invicta FC 14: Evinger vs. Kianzad. According to 411 Mania, said catchweight fight will take place at Invicta FC 15: Souza vs. Grasso in November. At this moment however, there are no details on a precise date, the location of the venue, or who Cyborg’s opponent will be. Needless to say, but the upcoming catchweight fight is probably the first stop on Cyborg’s road to fight in the bantamweight division.
It does seem Cris Cyborg is being aggressive, yet smart, when it comes to going down a weight division. For years, MMA fans have wanted Cyborg to fight Ronda Rousey to fight, just so they know who the best female MMA fighter truly is. Despite this, the fight actually happening seems to be a cat-and-mouse game. For starters, Rousey was originally in the featherweight division when she fought in now-defunct Strikeforce. She dropped down a weight division because she said bantamweight was a better weight class for her. Coincidentally, said drop also happened when chattering about Rousey fighting Cyborg started to arise. Since then, it has been a chase in which Cyborg would almost get her fight with Rousey, but Rousey would just be one step ahead.
After years of this cat-and-mouse game, the upcoming Rousey vs. Cyborg fight has been built up to be an end-all for one or the other (as shown in the video above). As detailed by SB Nation, Cris Cyborg possibly has a record that is somewhat equal to Ronda Rousey, at 14 straight wins within a decade. Cyborg’s only loss was her debut against Erica Paes back in May 17, 2005, at Show Fight 2. Cyborg also had one of her wins changed to a “no contest” when she tested positive for stanozolol after the fight.
It shall be reported when more news about the upcoming Invicta FC 15: Souza vs. Grasso. So far, the only details known about the upcoming Invicta FC premier event is the main fight. Invicta FC strawweight champion Livia Renata Souza will defend her title against Alexa Grasso.
[Image via Jon Kopaloff / Stringer / Getty Images]
