If only mixed martial arts champion Ronda Rousey, the undefeated women’s bantamweight champion, will agree to increase her weight and meet Cyborg Justino halfway, the much-awaited fight between these two great fighters will finally happen. There will definitely be a lot of money involved in this epic fight.
If only it is just that simple.
The problem is, Rousey has the upper hand in this MMA negotiation and she will not agree to anything that easily.
In a nutshell, Justino has been penalized for taking in illegal substances. Last 2012, she has been suspended for a year and was fined $2,500 for testing positive to a substance named stanozolol. During the hearing, Justino did not contest the lab results but admitted that she took supplements from one of her coaching staff.
Rousey, on the other hand, has never done such a thing. And because of this, Rousey isn’t going to waste her time and effort to go up in weight just to fight someone she considers a cheater.
During Rousey’s post-fight interview in Rio de Janeiro, she gave her thoughts about Cyborg fighting against her at a certain weight. “I fight in the UFC 135-pound division. She can fight 145 pumped full of steroids, and she can make weight just like everybody else without ‘em,” she said.
Cyborg Justino announced two years ago that she is planning to go to Invicta and drop her weight to 135 pounds in order to be qualified for a bantamweight fight. She will then have the chance to go up against Rousey for the title. However, Justino making an actual effort to achieve the weight is still yet to be seen. Seeing that she is comfortably winning fights at 145, it will be a huge effort on Justino’s part to actually go down the 135-pound weight.
It is not really unreasonable for Rousey to think that women’s MMA contender Justino is not acting in good faith.
Come to think of it, there are other fighters who can make the weight legally and still be qualified to go up against her; take Miesha Tate for example. The former bantamweight champion has finally earned her spot again to fight Rousey for the title. As big as the Rousey-Justino fight will be, there is no doubt that the Rousey-Tate fight will earn millions of dollars as well.
Another point to take note: Tate has never been penalized for taking drugs either.
Justino needs to step up and fulfill her promise to at least attempt to make the target weight just so she can prove that she really wants to make the epic fight happen. Time is actually ticking for her to prove the MMA industry that she is really acting in good faith.
Another possible point to further motivate Cyborg is the tons of money that both parties can earn if the fight will not happen.
So in the meantime, Cyborg needs to put all of her efforts to make the 135-pound weight; Rousey will fight Tate for the third time; then things will slowly fall into place from there.