Make no mistake, the UFC created the 145-pound featherweight division for Cris “Cyborg” Justino much the same way it opened the 135-pound bantamweight division for Ronda Rousey.
But before Justino can become the UFC sensation Rousey became, she’ll have to get past Germaine de Randamie, who captured the division’s first title Saturday night with a unanimous decision over Holly Holm at Barclays Center.
Justino, considered by many the best female fighter in mixed martial arts, was in attendance, mingling with fans and making sure she’s not forgotten. That won’t happen anytime soon, even though she faces a possible suspension for a doping violation.
Though de Randamie left the Octagon with the belt, it didn’t feel like she was the champion, and the crowd seemed indifferent to the outcome. Justino is the dominant name in this newly created division, much the same way Rousey once was for the bantamweights.
Put simply, whoever holds the UFC’s new featherweight belt won’t be considered the real champion until she faces Justino.
“I want to fight everybody. If I need to fight Cris Cyborg, I’ll fight her,” de Randamie said, adding that she’ll first need surgery on her hand.
Justino was intended to be the headline attraction for UFC 208, but she said she needed at least until March to recover from a depleting weight cut for her last UFC fight at a 140-pound catch-weight. Then she tested positive for a banned substance.
On the surface that could spell disaster for the new women’s featherweight division, but while Justino is out of action, other 145-pounders can establish themselves as legitimate contenders.
“I can guarantee you they can build this division in no time,” Holm said before the bout. “They just have to make some phone calls because there are a lot of girls out there that are very tough.”
It wasn’t that long ago UFC president Dana White was reluctant to add a women’s division, citing a lack of interest and quality competition. Then he signed Rousey in 2012 and created the bantamweight division. A year later, the women’s strawweight (115-pound limit) division was formed, and over the last four years, female fighters have been among the most popular in the UFC.
In addition to UFC 208 Saturday night, they have headlined many of the most recent high-profile UFC shows, including UFC 193 in Melbourne, Australia, where 56,214 saw Holm upset Rousey; UFC 200 where Amanda Nunes won the bantamweight title against Miesha Tate, and UFC 207 where Nunes successfully defended against Rousey.
Strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk also is a popular attraction, and Valentina Shevchenko and Julianna Pena were the main event of UFC on Fox last month.
“The girls have changed everything,” said Anderson “Spider” Silva, who won a unanimous decision over Derek Brunson in the co-feature Saturday night. “It’s created more fans and more people to come watch.”
Justino is appealing her positive test, which she says was caused by a diuretic prescribed by her doctor.
Whenever she is eligible and healthy enough to fight again, it can’t come soon enough.
From top to bottom, UFC 208 wasn’t the most thrilling card, with the first seven fights going to a decision. Holm-de Randamie was a snoozer as well.
The featherweight division figures to be a work in progress. It won’t be like the bantamweight division, where Rousey dominated by winning her first six fights with five of those wins coming in the first round — all that before she fought Holm in Australia.
Since then, the bantamweight belt has changed hands two more times, and Holm, Nunes and others have stepped into the spotlight. Holm expects the same depth to evolve at featherweight.
“We’re going to start to see a lot of 145-pounders come out,” Holm said. “We’re going to see a lot of them get better because they’re going to know that they have an opportunity that they can grasp on to.”
Justino will be waiting for her opportunity, too.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
