The UFC has penciled in a women’s featherweight title bout between Cris “Cyborg” Justino and Megan Anderson as the co-main event of UFC 214, set for July 29 in Anaheim, MMA Fighting reports.
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A formal announcement is expected to be forthcoming.
Germaine de Randamie beat Holly Holm in February to become the inaugural champ of the women’s featherweight division, but she refuses to fight Justino, citing Cyborg’s drug testing history.
Justino (17-1, 1 NC) was suspended by USADA but later granted a retroactive therapeutic use exemption (TUE) for Spironolactone, a physician-prescribed diuretic, and she was sanctioned by neither the anti-doping organization nor the UFC.
Nevertheless, de Randamie’s manager Brian Butler told MMA Fighting last month, “the position is that she will not fight Cyborg because Cyborg is a known and proven cheater.”
Justino’s fight against Anderson will be her first at 145 pounds, a more natural weight for her than the 135 pounds at which bantamweights fight. She has had some scary incidents while cutting weight before fights
Cyborg and Anderson, the current Invicta champ, have been lobbying for a fight against each other.
“Cris and I are the top featherweights in the world,” the Australian said.
Justino, who is from Brazil, added, “I am very excited about this fight, and I called out this fight a long time, because I think she’s a 145-pounder. This fight was supposed to happen a long time ago, and then no happen because her manager talked to the UFC and thought she needed more time, needed more fights. But they think this is the real fight. This is the real fight for the belt at 145.”
The light heavyweight title bout, a rematch between Daniel Cormier vs. Jon Jones 2, is slated to headline the UFC 214 card at Honda Center.