Cris “Cyborg” has asked for a release from the UFC, according to her manager, Tito Ortiz. Photo by Josh Hedges/Forza LLC/Forza LLC via Getty Images
Cris “Cyborg” Santos has requested a release from the UFC, according to her manager, Tito Ortiz.
Ortiz said on Friday’s edition of “Inside MMA” that the UFC made an offer to Cyborg’s representation, but she turned it down once it was presented her. Instead, the fighter will see what other opportunities there are outside the UFC.
“Right now, we’re waiting for UFC to release her. We asked for them to release her,” Ortiz said. “Dana … talked to me yesterday. They gave an offer, I went to Cyborg, [and] she said she didn’t want to do it. We just asked for a release. Since they’re not having a 145-pound weight class, what else [can] they do? As of now, she’s gotta be released and we’ll go look at somewhere else.”
Once the UFC announced they would maintain a women’s division, fans hankered to see Cyborg take on the meteorically rising Ronda Rousey, but negotiations have hit speed bumps with disagreements of all sorts.
UFC president Dana White has gone on record to say that Cyborg is, from his point of view, ducking Rousey. Cyborg has refuted such claims, explaining that it’s a physical impossibility for her to cut the weight necessary to make the 135-pound limit.
Rousey’s manager, Darin Harvey, said recently that the Cyborg fight is one he and his client want because it’s a “big money fight.” He said, regardless of Cyborg’s doctors refusing to sign off on the weight cut, that he’s confident she can make the weight if she wants.
“I don’t want to see anyone get hurt long-term … but my personal belief is she can lose the weight,” Harvey said. “I believe if she’s not taking drugs 135 pounds will be absolutely no problem.”
The Rousey-Cyborg clash might have happened in Strikeforce before its demise in January, but a suspension from a positive drug test by Cyborg prevented such a match-up from taking place. Cyborg completed her suspension in December 2012, but it appears that the fight is still long from becoming a reality.
The UFC will begin keeping a women’s division with UFC 157, which will be headlined by the UFC’s first-ever female fight between champion Rousey defending her title against Liz Carmouche.
UFC 157 will take place Feb. 23 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
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