The biggest fight in women's MMA history will take place Saturday in Las Vegas at UFC 219 . Cris "Cyborg" Justino will defend her women's featherweight championship against former women's bantamweight champion Holly Holm.
The victor will earn much more than a gold belt; she'll also gain the distinction of being the best women's fighter of all time.
Justino, 32, is unbeaten in her last 18 fights, with 16 of the wins by knockout and 10 of those coming in the first round. Fight fans believe that because she hasn't lost since her debut in May 2005 and has been so dominant in the Octagon, she must not have faced many quality opponents. That isn't the case. Justino has beaten the likes of Gina Carano, former Strikeforce women's bantamweight champion Marloes Coenen (twice), Shayna Baszler and Tonya Evinger. Baszler was the best female fighter in the world when Cyborg (18-1-1) beat her by second-round TKO in July 2008.
Justino was on the verge of superstardom after she defeated Carano in a great fight in 2009. She needed the right opponent to get her there. Until then, she did all she could as she wiped out one foe after another.
UFC 219, CYBORG VS. HOLM: How to watch, live stream, PPV price
Enter Ronda Rousey, who set the world on fire when she debuted for Strikeforce in 2011. With her good looks and her ability to quickly finish opponents the way Cyborg could, a showdown seemed inevitable.
Then came hard contract negotiations between Justino and the UFC and Rousey's unwillingness to fight at any weight except 135 pounds. The fight didn't happen, and it doesn't appear destined to happen at this point.
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Holm, 36, was already one of the greatest female combat sports competitors when she entered mixed martial arts. She went 33-2-3 in boxing and captured world titles at super lightweight, welterweight and super welterweight. She was 9-0 in MMA (six by stoppage) when he she took on Rousey at UFC 193.
Not many people gave her a shot to win. They saw her as nothing more than a stepping stone for Rousey as she continued her reign of terror.
Then the fight happened. Holm dominated throughout. She finished off Rousey with a highlight-reel left head kick to score what many felt was the biggest upset in MMA history.
Shockingly, Holm lost her next three fights: to Miesha Tate in the closing seconds of UFC 196; by decision to Valentina Shevchenko; and by controversial decision to Germaine de Randamie in the inaugural 145-pound title fight at UFC 208 in February.
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Holm (11-3) bounced back in June, notching another head-kick KO over Bethe Correia in Singapore.
Now Holm is front of Cyborg. Considering what Holm has done in her career, a win Saturday would no doubt be Justino's greatest triumph and turn the Brazilian into what she felt she should have been a long time ago: a bona fide UFC superstar.
A win by Holm would make her the only person in boxing and MMA to win two world titles in two different weight classes. Add in the fact Holm would have defeated two fighters the combat sports world thought were unbeatable.
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“I’ve had some highs and some lows over the last two years,” Holm said on the UFC 219 conference call. “From a big high to having a couple losses and then having a win. This is one of those things that this is a huge challenge for me to take.
"A lot of girls don’t even want to step up in weight to fight at 145, and I wanted to take on the opportunity. I want to show people I’m taking this opportunity for a reason. I don’t want to just say I tried. I want to go in there and do the best I can. I want to go in there and have a victory, so I put a lot on myself for this fight. I’ve trained very hard and I know that this is a huge opportunity for me, and I just don’t want to let it pass me by and not make the most of it.”
Cyborg and Holm will leave every single drop of blood, sweat and tears in the Octagon on Saturday. The winner will exit Sin City with not just one title, but two.
Steven Muehlhausen is an MMA and boxing writer and contributor for Sporting News. You can listen to his podcast, "The Fight Junkies" here . You can email him at [email protected] and can find him on Twitter @SMuehlhausenMMA .
