Ronda Rousey Returns; Scared to Fight Long-Time Bitter Rival?
Ronda Rousey will be making her UFC return on December 30th at UFC 207 in Las Vegas.
It will be the first fight of the former UFC women's bantamweight champion, since she lost in devastating fashion against fellow former champion Holly Holm. It was lights out for "Rowdy" after the single head kick on the second round was in front of thousands in attendance at UFC 193 last November in Melbourne, Australia.
Rousey will be facing current champion Amanda Nunes, in which many observers believe that she is also at a great disadvantage. And now that she is officially back in the mix, a good number of fans are still clamoring for her to fight long-time rival Cris "Cyborg" Justino.
Cyborg and Rousey have been pitted against each other since Rousey's title reign from 2012-2015. The fight never came to fruition, mainly due to Rousey's insistence in making the match-up happen at 135-pounds, her home weight class. Cyborg, meanwhile, is a natural 145-pounder, and has been having trouble cutting down.
For her part, Cyborg had already made waves in the UFC since being signed in March 2015. While she has been fighting at a 140-pound catch-weight due to the non-existence of a women's featherweight division in the UFC, she has so far won dominantly, finishing Leslie Smith in May, and Lisa Lansberg in September. Both fights ended via technical knockout. She has so far maintained a win streak that began in 2005, her MMA debut.
The Brazilian fighter says she is still willing to face Rousey, but is no longer counting on it to happen, at the same time. In a report by Yahoo! Sports, Cyborg says the circumstances, along with Rousey's non-committal attitude to come up in weight, may hinder the fight from happening for good, noting that she is also unwilling to cut down to 140-pounds for another fight.
"It won't happen. I don't believe it anymore," Cyborg said.
