Updated 06:59 AM EDT, Fri, Mar 29, 2024

Cyborg vs Rousey? Cris Justino Goes Bantamweight

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Cris "Cyborg" Justino has recently dropped down to the women's bantamweight division prompting speculations that she and UFC champ Ronda Rousey will soon go against each other.

In an announcement, the UFC said that Justino will be included in the bantamweight division for the Invicta FC event in December which will be aired via the UFC Fight Pass. Her opponent, however, has still not been announced.

According to a Fox Sports report, this can be Justino's ticket to fighting Rousey in next year. This was even highlighted by the Twitter post of Invicta FC president Shannon Knapp who said earlier this year that Justino will challenge Rousey.

The two female fighters have been reportedly paired for a match in the UFC but both of them have refused to discuss fight talks. Fox Sports said that Rousey and Justino can be considered the two best female fighters in the world.

Justino is the former Invicta FC and Strikeforce 145-pound champion. According to Fox Sports, she has not lost a match since 2005. Rousey, on the other hand, remains an undefeated UFC champion.

There is however, a factor that is believed to hamper the fight from happening, and that is Justino's history with performance-enhancing drugs. In 2011, she was stripped of her Strikeforce title after she tested positive for steroids.

This was also used as reference by Rousey in an interview with Yahoo Sports where she said that the much-bigger and stronger Justino cannot defeat her even if she uses drugs.

"The reason why people dope is because they lack self-confidence. The reason why she was using steroids is because that girl does not believe that the best that she has is good enough, and that will always be there in her mind. And you know what, she's right. The best that she has isn't good enough, even on drugs," Rousey explained.

Rousey also said that her grappling technique will still win over Justino's size and physical prowess.

"Ask the girls that I've fought. They weren't expecting this. Because I don't look like it, it doesn't mean I don't have it," she told Yahoo Sports.

The undefeated UFC champ also claimed that Justino does not have a "one-strike" KO power to beat Rousey and that the former definitely cannot out-pace her inside the Octagon.

"She doesn't have any feeling in her punches, she pushes her punches. She can't knock people out with one punch, she just overwhelms them. My pace, nobody can overwhelm me. And the way that she is on the ground, it's absolute horrendous. And her distance is absolute horrendous. The only thing that she has is pace and power, and I have pace, precision and power," she added.

Rousey is set to return fighting by the start of next year which Fox Sports said could be a perfect timing for a match against Justino.

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