Monday, June 19, 2017

Cris Cyborg vs Megan Anderson added to July 29 UFC show

The UFC announced this morning that Germaine De Randamie has been stripped of the UFC Women's Welterweight Championship. Cris Cyborg will fight Megan Anderson for this championship on UFC 214 July 29 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. And so ends one of the most disgraceful episodes in UFC history. As I said a couple of weeks ago, the number one person to blame for all this is UFC President Dana White. I have said for several years that there aren't enough 145lb fighters for a UFC division. This "If you build it they will come" is nonsense from idiots. It was back in 2012 that Strikeforce's Scott Coker first asked Cyborg to drop to 135 because she cleaned out 145. And White admitted there are no 145lb fighters to Jason Whitlock of Fox Sports 1. What changed? Well, Cyborg is somewhat of a draw in Brazil and White needed a title match for the Brooklyn show in February. Cyborg was not going to be able to fight because of a positive drug test that she got a TUE for. So instead of delaying the fight until Cyborg was ready, White forced the Holm vs De Randamie match which sucked anyway. You may recall I scored it a draw. And then it was obvious by Germaine's post fight interview, she was never going to fight Cyborg. This was all caused by White's impatience. So now we have Invicta champ Megan Anderson coming in. Megan is an Aussie who has improved a lot since moving to Missouri to train with UFC fighter James Krause. I doubt she will be able to do much with Cyborg. But there's no one after her. Most Welterweights worth considering are signed to Bellator. It's slim pickings otherwise. None are any good. If only Cyborg had dropped to 135 when Coker first requested it. We wouldn't be talking about this. And for those who claim it's unhealthy for her cut to 135, I have news for you. Cutting to 145 is just as unhealthy and difficult for her. There's no difference. Her natural weight is 165. There are no women fighting at that weight. In her case, extreme weight cutting comes with the territory. And remember the UFC agreed to sign her in the first place if she agreed to drop to 135. Her decision not to do it is a breach of contract. The health concerns were always a Tito Ortiz red herring. Cyborg's former nutritionist George Lockhart admitted the real reason Cyborg didn't want to drop to 135 was she was concerned about losing her competitive edge. That's what I thought but I was surprised someone would actually say it.

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