Ronda Rousey is as dominating a champion as you’re going to find — finishing off most of her opponents in under a minute and standing head and shoulders above every would-be contender in her division. But there is one woman in the world of mixed martial arts who many think could challenge the Olympic medalist: Cris Cyborg.
One problem though… Cyborg fights at 145 pounds while Rousey fights at 135 pounds, and Ronda refuses to agree to a catchweight. In the past Cyborg has said hitting 135 is ‘physically impossible’ but has committed to attempting the cut over the next twelve months.
She isn’t super stoked about it though, especially as Ronda Rousey continues to throw smack her way at every opportunity. All this recent Ronda news seems to have put Cris over the edge as she just penned a lengthy open letter about the UFC bantamweight champ. Via Fightland:
If she needs to continue bringing up my name in Interviews and constantly try to put me down for my looks, or my past mistakes, it only shows me that she still isn’t confident in herself.
There is a reason why she is saying she will only fight me at 135lbs, despite telling anyone who will listen that she would beat Cain Velasquez, fight Laila Ali, or whatever other nonsense she will come up with in her next interview, and that’s because when she loses to me she will lose her whole identity, when the cameras aren’t around and everyone has gone home, I think she’s just a really lonely-unhappy soul, and that’s a sad way to live your life.
I know the real reason why she is unwilling to step up to 140 and it has nothing to do with my past mistakes, and everything to do with her self doubt.
If the fight finally does happen, I’m not coming for the belt, it is her spirit I’m going to break, for all the mean things she has said about me. She made it personal and that isn’t something an opponent wants to do against me.
If you read between the lines you can see what Cris Cyborg is really saying: she wants the Rousey fight to happen at 140 pounds. Everything else surrounding that is just an attempt to ratchet up the pressure on Ronda to agree. Thus far though Ronda Rousey has been very firm: she won’t go up, no matter what.
Who knows, though? Eventually she’s going to get tired of everyone asking her why she won’t fight Cyborg. As admirable as her reasons may be, in the end people just want to see that fight.