When Germaine de Randamie beat Holly Holm to win the inaugural UFC women's featherweight championship at UFC 209 in February, the fight to make was de Randamie and long-time No. 1 ranked 145-pound fighter Cris "Cyborg" Justino.
The UFC tried to make the fight for UFC 214 on July 29 but the champion was reluctant to make the fight. De Randamie and her camp hadn't talked since February, and finally talked this weekend and on Monday, saying she will not be facing Justino and if the UFC wants to strip of her of the title so be it.
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When de Randamie initially went silent on a possible fight with Justino, fan support grew for a showdown between Justino and Invicta FC featherweight champion Megan Anderson at UFC 214. The fight makes the most sense at this point for a division that has only had one fight. It would feature the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked 145-pound fighters in the world and would provide Justino with her toughest test to date. Justino wants the fight and the Australian is more than willing to cross the Pacific Ocean and go toe-to-toe with the best women's fighter on the planet.
"Definitely," Anderson told Sporting News. "She wants the fight. She wants the fight in her adopted home country. I deserve that fight more than anybody else. She was the champion at Invicta. I’m the champion now in Invicta. It just makes sense. She’s said she’s asked for that fight before and my management said I wasn’t ready. That’s a complete lie. My management has never been approached about this fight. You can’t say she’s been campaigning for it because we have been approached for that fight. She needs an opponent. I need a fight. Let’s do it."
As of this moment, the UFC hasn't booked the Anderson-Justino fight. The fans are behind, the two combatants are behind it, and if the fight doesn't happen, Anderson would be pretty disappointed.
"This is the fight that needs to happen," Anderson said. "This is the fight that brings new interest to the 145 division. If the UFC doesn’t want to have the two best featherweights in the world to fight then can you really say they are invested in the division? If this fight doesn’t happen, I’ll be disappointed but I’ll stay in Invicta and defend my belt and we’ll go from there."
Steven Muehlhausen is an MMA and boxing writer and contributor for Sporting News. You can find his podcast, "The Fight Club Chicago," and subscribe on iTunes. You can email him at [email protected] and can find him on Twitter @SMuehlhausenMMA.
