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http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ronda-r...55306-mma.html
Quote:
UFC president Dana White has plenty of motivation to match up UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, his mainstream, breakthrough star, against her rival-in-exile, Invicta FC featherweight champ Cristiane "Cyborg" Justino.
At this stage of the game, such a battle would be all but a license to print money.
"I think that fight does 2.5 million buys," a giddy White said late Saturday night, after Rousey knocked out Bethe Correia in 34 seconds. "I think that fight is massive."
Rousey, meanwhile, laid out the reason why the fight hasn't happened yet, and why she won't place "Cyborg" next on her agenda.
"I fight in the UFC 135-pound division," Rousey said at the UFC 190 post-fight news conference in Rio de Janeiro. "She can fight 145 pumped full of steroids, and she can make weight just like everybody else without 'em."
Rousey vs. Justino is a fight that has been discussed ever since Rousey was on her way up and Justino, who then went by the last name Santos, reigned supreme as the face of women's mixed martial arts.
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Ronda Rousey rocked Bethe Correia with a right hand that led to the end of their UFC 190 fight. (Reuters)
Ronda Rousey rocked Bethe Correia with a right hand that led to the end of their UFC 190 fight. (Reuters)
"Cyborg" was the Strikeforce women's featherweight champion when Rousey debuted in 2011. But Justino tested positive for steroids following a 16-second TKO win over Hiroko Yamanaka in San Diego in Dec. 2011, and was suspended for a year.
In the 16 months Justino ultimately spent between fights, Rousey's career took off. A participant on Showtime's Strikeforce Challengers B-level developmental shows in 2011, Rousey singlehandedly brought women's MMA to the UFC by the time Justino returned to action in 2013.
And while Rousey has been able to dismiss Justino over the past two years as Rousey has soared to the top of the combat sports world, Justino hasn't gone away. She has picked apart the competition at 145 pounds, and, in fairness, has passed every drug test she's taken in her four fights since her return.
For Rousey, however, the issue remains cut-and-dried: Justino got popped for steroids. Rousey hasn't. And since the UFC doesn't have a 145-pound weight class, Rousey won't cave to the calls to meet at a 140-pound catchweight.
"The day she makes the weight [135] and does what's she's supposed to do, that fight's on," White said. "She wants that fight, everybody, you don't think I want that fight to happen?"
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I wanna see this fight...Rousey would go down as the greatest female MMA figher of all time is she were to beat Cyborg, whilst retaining her undefeated record! Although, I don't blame Rousey for wanting Cyborg to meet on "her" (Rousey's) terms...steroid free, and within Rousey's weight class. I hope this happens in the near future...the female Mayweather vs Pacquiao!!!
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