MMA Fighting reported Saturday that Cris "Cyborg" Justino was likely to face Megan Anderson at UFC 214. Now it is official.
UFC officials sent a release to ESPN saying Germaine de Randamie was getting stripped of the women's featherweight title and Justino will be facing Invicta FC featherweight champion Anderson for the belt at UFC 214 on July 29.
"UFC has informed Germaine de Randamie and her management team that she is being removed as the women’s featherweight champion due to her unwillingness to fight the No. 1 ranked contender, Cris ‘Cyborg' Justino," the promotion said in a statement. "Subsequently, top contender Justino will face newly signed Invicta FC featherweight champion Megan Anderson for the UFC women’s featherweight title in the co-main event of UFC 214: Cormier vs. Jones 2, July 29 in Anaheim, Calif.
"UFC maintains that any champion is expected to accept fights against the top contenders in their respective weight classes in order to maintain the integrity of the sport.”
After months of silence after she won the inaugural championship from Holly Holm at UFC 208 in February, de Randamie's team released a statement saying the Dutch striker wouldn't face Justino.
"Germaine and her team have talked, and the position is that she will not fight Cyborg because Cyborg is a known and proven cheater,” de Randamie’s manager Brian Butler told MMA Fighting. “Even after so much scrutiny has been put on Cyborg, she still managed to pop for something and will always be a person of suspicion who is trying to beat the system rather than just conforming to the rules.
"For that reason, Germaine and her team don't believe that Cyborg should be allowed to compete in the UFC at all. If that is the only fight the UFC wants, then Germaine is willing to wait and see if the UFC will strip her belt before making her next move."
This will be Justino's (17-1, 1 NC) first bout at featherweight in the UFC as she had two bouts at a catchweight of 140 pounds; a 81-second knockout of Leslie Smith at UFC 198 back in May 2016 and a second-round TKO of Lina Lansburg at UFC Fight Night 95 in September.
Anderson (8-2) had been scheduled to defend her Invicta belt against Helena Kolesnyk at Invicta FC 24 in July. Anderson vacated the title, and Invicta bantamweight champion Tonya Evinger will move up to 145 pounds and Kolesnyk.
Justino is regarded as the best women's fighter in the world and been deemed unbeatable by fight fans. Anderson, who many feel is the No. 2 women's featherweight in the world, feels as though every fighter can be defeated and she is the one to end the reign of "Cyborg."
"Everyone is beatable," Anderson told Sporting News. "I think a lot of people go into fighting Cris already beat mentally. I’ve never gone into a fight that I’m not prepared for. I honestly believe I’m the best in the world and I’m the only one that has the skills, the ability and the fight IQ to beat her.
"I believe in my abilities. I believe in my training. I believe in my coaches. If that fight happens at UFC 214, I want to shock the world because everyone thinks I’m not at that level and I’m not capable of beating her and she’s just this machine. I’m going to show everyone that she’s human, she’s beatable and that there’s a new face in the division."
Steven Muehlhausen is an MMA and boxing writer and contributor for Sporting News. You can listen to his podcast, "The Fight Club Chicago" here. You can email him at [email protected] and can find him on Twitter @SMuehlhausenMMA.
