Vacation spot Cyborg: The place may Cris Justino land in free company?
Cris “Cyborg” Justino is arguably essentially the most dominant feminine fighter in MMA historical past. She has held featherweight titles within the UFC, Strikeforce and Invicta. She has 20 wins — 10 of which resulted in first-round knockouts — together with victories over former champions Gina Carano and Holly Holm.
Cyborg was unbeaten from November 2005 till December 2018, and regardless of her KO loss to Amanda Nunes, she’s nonetheless one of the vital feared fighters within the sport.
And the UFC simply would possibly lose her.
Her UFC 240 co-main occasion bout in opposition to Felicia Spencer on Saturday night time marks the ultimate struggle on Justino’s UFC contract, and the favored former champion has acknowledged her want to check her worth on the open market.
There needs to be no scarcity of suitors for among the best feminine MMA fighters to ever stay, and it’ll in the end rely on what Justino covets most at this level in her profession. With that in thoughts, let’s handicap the seemingly touchdown spots for one of the vital coveted MMA free agents-to-be in current reminiscence.
UFC
ESPN’s Odds: – 250
Regardless of Justino’s seemingly fixed unhappiness with UFC’s selections throughout her tenure with the corporate and a poor relationship with UFC president Dana White, Justino nonetheless seems more likely to re-up with the world’s greatest MMA promotion. A number of that’s contingent upon whether or not Justino beats Spencer. If she does, a rematch between Justino and Amanda Nunes for the UFC girls’s featherweight title later this yr can be a no brainer.
Justino’s greatest gripe with the UFC — apart from the offhanded remarks made by White through the years — has been its unwillingness to decide to a girls’s featherweight division. Justino was introduced into the UFC initially in 2016 to struggle at 140-pound catchweights, with the hope of shifting all the way down to 135 to struggle Ronda Rousey. That matchup by no means materialized as a result of Justino was frankly too massive to get that far down in weight.
Cris Cyborg, left, and UFC President Dana White, middle, haven’t seen eye to eye in recent times. Kevork Djansezian/Zuffa LLC by way of Getty Picture
In 2017, the UFC really created a girls’s featherweight title, after which they did not await Justino to struggle for it. Whereas Justino was going via points following a nasty weight minimize and a difficulty with the USADA (which was resolved), the UFC had Germaine de Randamie struggle Holly Holm for the 145-pound belt. De Randamie gained, then refused to defend the belt in opposition to Justino due to Justino’s previous optimistic drug check for a steroid. The UFC stripped de Randamie and had Justino struggle for the vacant 145-pound title in opposition to Tonya Evinger. Justino gained at UFC 214 in July 2017, however two years later, there nonetheless is not even a top-15 rankings for girls’s featherweight within the UFC.
Justino misplaced the title to Nunes by way of first-round knockout at UFC 232 in December. Nunes can also be the ladies’s bantamweight champion and appears extra considering staying at 135 and caring for enterprise there moderately than serving to construct the 145-pound weight class. The entire scenario is a little bit of a multitude, nevertheless it may nonetheless proper itself with a renewed dedication to Justino and the division. Spencer is a comparatively new signee, and the UFC appears to be within the means of bringing in additional feminine featherweights.
Bellator
ESPN’s odds +175
UFC 240 options dominant featherweight champion Max Holloway defending in opposition to veteran Frankie Edgar, who at 37 is perhaps competing for a title for the ultimate time. Within the co-main occasion, Cris Cyborg goals to bounce again from simply her second profession defeat in opposition to the unbeaten Felicia Spencer.
UFC 240: Holloway vs. Edgar
• Saturday, Edmonton, Alberta
• Early prelims: ESPN+, 6:30 p.m. ET
• Prelims: ESPN, eight p.m. ET
• Most important card: ESPN+ PPV, 10 p.m. ET
Order UFC 240 now
Justino has a relationship with Bellator president Scott Coker going again greater than a decade, to her Strikeforce debut in 2009. She and Coker at all times bought alongside significantly better than she and White have, and that is an understatement. For that motive alone, Bellator can be within the working for Justino’s service — and there may be little doubt that Bellator can be very .
Bellator has finished a very good job choosing up key free brokers from the UFC, together with present Bellator heavyweight and lightweight heavyweight champion Ryan Bader, former UFC mild heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida, present Bellator welterweight champion Rory MacDonald and former Bellator middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi. Justino would possibly make the largest impression of all of them. She’s a confirmed rankings draw and would make a distinction for Bellator on Paramount Community and DAZN.
Apart from a rematch with Nunes, maybe the largest potential struggle on the market for Justino can be in opposition to Julia Budd. The Bellator featherweight champion has gained seven in a row and her solely profession losses got here in opposition to Ronda Rousey and Amanda Nunes, each in 2011. Bellator additionally has a functioning girls’s featherweight division, which might’t be stated for most of the different rivals right here. Justino has even stated that publicly.
ONE Championship
ESPN’s odds: +400
ONE has two good issues going for it in negotiations: cash and a compelling matchup. ONE has been aggressive in free company since final yr, scooping up the likes of former UFC light-weight champion Eddie Alvarez and Sage Northcutt from the UFC, and brokering a commerce to accumulate Demetrious Johnson, the best flyweight fighter ever. ONE needs to run a present in america subsequent yr and is reportedly engaged on a present in Brazil. Justino can be a very good match — and potential headlining act — in both state of affairs.
And that one compelling matchup? That will be lately signed Jorina Baars, the kickboxing nice who owns a Muay Thai victory over Justino in 2014. On the time, it was Justino’s first fight sports activities loss going again to 2005. After all, Justino is a combined martial artist, not a Thai boxer, nevertheless it would not be shocking if she was considering getting that struggle again, whether or not it is in a cage or ring. Baars even talked about when she signed that she’d be considering a Justino rematch. One other factor so as to add: ONE signing Baars a few month earlier than the ultimate struggle on Justino’s contract is probably going not a coincidence. If Justino did head over to the Asian promotion, she would not have many potential opponents, however Baars can be an enormous one.
Skilled Fighters League
ESPN’s odds: +500
Since we’re speaking about intriguing fights for Justino, the PFL has one of many greatest: a matchup with former two-time Olympic judo champion Kayla Harrison. That is a struggle Harrison has talked about and one Justino would certainly be considering. The one drawback is that it could not be finished instantly. That is not the PFL’s type.
The PFL has a season-and-playoffs construction. It may put Harrison and Justino collectively in the identical division — both at light-weight, Harrison’s present dwelling, or at featherweight — after which hope they each make it to the finals or face off within the postseason. There’s a threat in that, although.
Harrison remains to be new to MMA, with solely 5 professional fights in comparison with Justino’s 23. Harrison will probably be within the PFL’s light-weight playoffs in October and appears to be on a collision course with Sarah Kaufman. If Kaufman (or another person) beats Harrison, a Justino vs. Harrison struggle wouldn’t be practically as marketable. The potential of successful $1 million on the finish of a season could possibly be engaging to Justino, however she has sizable struggle purses already and sure would require a very good quantity upfront. One other engaging side of PFL: a assured, constant stream of fights and, just like the UFC, publicity on ESPN. It might not be an out-of-the-question vacation spot, and the PFL certainly will probably be .
If @Judo_Kayla wins the @ProFightLeague match at 155lbs she does not have to come back all the way down to Featherweight. I’ve no drawback going up in weight to compete. https://t.co/P3F6XQPdNg
– Cyborg UFC240 ESPN+ (@criscyborg) January 17, 2019
*when* I win. https://t.co/wB3NO7iMj9
– Kayla Harrison (@Judo_Kayla) January 17, 2019
Boxing
ESPN’s odds: +650
Justino has lengthy acknowledged her want to get into boxing. She has an in depth relationship with girls’s boxing champion Claressa Shields, and Justino has even walked Shields out to the ring on a number of events. Quite a lot of instances, Justino has had social media exchanges with present boxers. The likelihood is on the market, nevertheless it’s unclear how a lot boxing promoters can be keen to pony up for her companies.
Former UFC champion Cris Cyborg and boxing champion Claressa Shields have skilled collectively prior to now. Scott Hirano
Girls’s boxing is not as massive a enterprise as girls’s MMA. Perhaps Justino may go a good distance towards altering that, however proper now it would be extra sensible and profitable for her to signal with an MMA promotion. It would not be in any respect stunning if Naked Knuckle FC made a run at her, too — maybe providing greater than a conventional boxing promoter. However except Justino indicators a deal in MMA that may additionally enable her to field, her stepping into the ring with the massive gloves stays an underdog.
Professional wrestling
ESPN’s odds: +1000
Justino additionally has expressed curiosity in professional wrestling on social media typically over the previous yr. She regularly replies to wrestlers and shares fan-made graphics manufactured from her squaring off with potential wrestling rivals. Justino was ringside for Double or Nothing, the primary pay-per-view card run by upstart All Elite Wrestling (AEW) in Could, and sources have stated there was no less than some dialogue between Justino’s crew and AEW, however nothing important fairly but. She additionally made a meet-and-greet look on the AEW-adjacent Starrcast conference the identical weekend of Double or Nothing in Las Vegas.
It seems as if @criscyborg is on the WWE Efficiency Middle at the moment. pic.twitter.com/jzsssHmcOR
– Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) January 28, 2019
Whereas it might not be new or stunning for a former UFC champion to point out up in wrestling in some kind — Brock Lesnar and Rousey are each on the WWE roster — Cyborg has little professional wrestling coaching and sure stands to have rather more curiosity with extra profitable offers in different fight sports activities mediums. It’s actually potential she may land someplace that may let her cross over into professional wrestling, although, the identical manner Cain Velasquez will do subsequent month when he debuts in Mexican lucha libre.