Somewhere in the vast multiverse, Holly Holm’s controversial loss to Germaine de Randamie at UFC 208 never happened. The whole slate is wiped clean, and the MMA Gods are going in “another direction.” Consider it a retcon of the women’s UFC featherweight division, a division in which there has been a single fight since its official inauguration in February, and has a champion, de Randamie, who seemingly wants to either never fight again or move back down to bantamweight.
According to a report by MMA Fighting, this will lead to Invicta featherweight champion Megan Anderson facing Cris Cyborg at UFC 214 for the UFC featherweight strap.
The details on how de Randamie will be stripped or “relinquished” of the featherweight title isn’t known, but de Randamie’s camp has said she will not fight Cris Cyborg due to her failed drug test and even then, she has an injured hand to take care of or a drop back down to bantamweight, or maybe just retirement. No one really knows. It’s a weird situation.
So now we go to the fight that should’ve been made for the title in the first place — Anderson vs. Cyborg. Anderson became the Invicta interim featherweight champ at Invicta FC 21 when she beat up Charmaine Tweet, and was later promoted to the undisputed champion when it was clear Cyborg, the former Strikeforce featherweight champion, would not be coming back to the promotion.
Will this title shot lead to Cyborg’s imminent resigning to the UFC, a company she claimed failed at marketing her and is now dealing with the fallout from Cyborg’s alleged assault of Angela Magana at the UFC retreat.
The 145-pound ladies division is one of the murkiest divisions in the history of the sport. What would happen if Cyborg up and left the UFC after winning the belt basically created for her? Cyborg’s contract is reportedly up this fall, and Bellator CEO Scott Coker had an excellent relationship with her in Strikeforce.
This is truly one of worst handlings of a division in UFC history. Two total fight’s that are both title fights with four different fighters, so let’s do what we can and watch some Anderson highlights then wonder if she has a chance.
(Via MMA Fighting)
