“If you build it, he will come.” – Field of Dreams
Sure, that’s a cheesy 80s movie cliché but it’s very fitting for one of the most needed divisions in the UFC.
Cris Cyborg is headlining UFC Brasilia later tonight, a fight she will most likely dominate, and for the second time her true fight was against a weight scale. The UFC’s 140 lb catch weight has brought Cyborg to tears once and this past week saw her cut from 164 lbs to 141 lbs in 4 days.
For a promotion that preaches fighter health and safety, they’re surely putting one of the sports’ most dominant athletes at risk.
Cyborg still holds Invicta’s 145lb championship but her proven success in the UFC makes it unlikely she returns to that promotion.
For years fans hoped to see a Ronda Rousey vs Cyborg match up but the weight differences made it almost impossible. Cyborg has now proven that she’s able and willing to meet any 135 lb fighter half-way but Ronda is nowhere in sight. She’s held up her end of the bargain and it’s now time for the UFC to hold up theirs.
The only bigger fight than Cyborg vs Rousey is a 135 lb champion vs a 145 lb champion. They have the perfect opportunity to do just that in 2017 but excuses such as lack of depth (Which didn’t stop them from creating 135 around Ronda), Cyborg’s dominance and Dana’s underestimation of women’s MMA are keeping the UFC from maxing out their full capability.
For example, Cyborg recently sparred with Women’s MMA light heavyweight Gabi Garcia and it showed the potential women have in all weight classes.
Gabi Garcia Goes To War In Sparring with Cris… by CombatNation
“I was already a fan of hers even before I decided to fight MMA,” Garcia said to MMAFighting. “When I got to the U.S., Cris called me and said that we were both fighting around the same day, and introduced me to her coach and called me to train together one day. She has her sparring partners at her weight and I have mine, of course, but we train together sometimes. She’s surreal. She’s a monster.”
Cyborg’s success in the octagon can have impact on those she doesn’t even know. Olympic Judo gold medalist Kayla Harrison is another woman who contemplated making the jump to MMA in the future.
“Who doesn’t want to be rich and famous at some point in their life?” Harrison said in an interview with TIME. “It’s a huge opportunity for me and I think I could be really really good at it.”
Harrison competes around 165lbs and a cut down to 135lbs is unlikely but adding a 145 lb division will give women on the edge of competing, such as Kayla, an easier weight.
Holly Holm, a former world champion boxer at 147 lbs, drops down to compete in the UFC’s bantamweight division. Who’s to say other boxer wouldn’t make the jump if given an attainable weight class.
Holm had a kickboxing background to go along with her boxing accolades but even with her credentials the UFC took an early flier by signing her after only 7 MMA fights and one year of exclusive MMA competition. They did that to speed an eventual showdown with Ronda Rousey, a fight which became one of the most shocking upsets in UFC history.
This isn’t to say that these combat sports athletes will sign immediately upon creation of a women’s featherweight division but a fight with a true champion like Cyborg is very enticing for women looking to make quality money.
The ‘world champion underdog’ vs the ‘unstoppable UFC champion’ model has worked before and it’ll work again. It took the UFC 2 years to develop a worth foe for Ronda Rousey, why not afford Cyborg the same opportunity?