Inaugural UFC women’s featherweight champion Germaine de Randamie refuses to defend her belt against Cris “Cyborg” Justino.
The champion has been relatively quiet since winning the belt, but her manager, Brian Butler of Sucker Punch Entertainment, on Friday told MMAJunkie.com that de Randamie and her camp have determined they don’t want to face Cyborg, who is a “proven cheater.”
“Germaine and her team have talked, and the position is that she will not fight Cyborg because Cyborg is a known and proven cheater,” Butler said. “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.”
Cyborg responded to de Randamie on Twitter, blasting the champion for taking five months to decide that she would not defend the belt against the woman UFC president Dana White admitted he created the division for.
“We waited 5months to find out it wasn’t de Randamie’s hand that was hurt, but her mental toughness and lack of confidence,” Cyborg wrote.
The UFC has yet to comment on what it plans to do not only with the division, but also with de Randmie and Cyborg.
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Ufc took 5 months trying to get @IronLadyMMA to fight Had 2 offer food, water, and pillow fights n champ still said no. #letsgochamp #ufc214
— #UFC214 #LetsGoChamp (@criscyborg) May 26, 2017
Some people are so afraid to lose that they will find every excuse not to try. @IronLadyMMA you can't doubt yourself champs are confident
— #UFC214 #LetsGoChamp (@criscyborg) May 26, 2017
The fact @IronLadyMMA knows she cant wrestle and I won't let her hit me after the bell is the real reason she won't fight #ufc214
— #UFC214 #LetsGoChamp (@criscyborg) May 26, 2017
We waited 5months to find out it wasn't @IronLadyMMA hand that was hurt but her mental toughness n lack of confidence. #ufc214 #letsgochamp
— #UFC214 #LetsGoChamp (@criscyborg) May 26, 2017
