Back in the fall of 2012, Mike Dolce flew out to Southern California to meet with Cris Cyborg. At the time, the former Strikeforce featherweight champion was preparing to return from a one-year suspension for a positive steroids test, and looking forward to turning the page. Her future, though, was cloudy. While her longtime promotion was about to fold into the UFC, and UFC president Dana White announced a women's division would be included, the competition would be limited to 135-pounders. That was a weight that Cyborg had never approached in her career.

For two hours over dinner, Cyborg and Dolce discussed the possibility of her making that magic number. At the time, Cyborg was not training much, and weighed 168 pounds. While Dolce queried her about her dieting and workout habits, she laid out her reservations about the major downward shift.

After years of helping athletes achieve their fitness goals, Dolce didn't require much time to assess things. From what he heard and saw, he was confident in telling her she could easily make the weight, which would set up a superfight with bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. By the time Dolce and Cyborg shook hands and parted, Dolce believed they were on the same page. Cyborg told him she would just have to speak to her management. But as time passed, a follow-up call from Cyborg or her Primetime 360 advisors never came, according to Dolce.

Instead, the next time he heard his name in connection with Cyborg, it was in the media, with Primetime 360's Tito Ortiz saying it was impossible for Cyborg to make 135 pounds. At that announcement, Dolce could only scratch his head.

"As a professional, I stand on my resume," Dolce told MMA Fighting. "If she had done the things necessary in November, December and January, it would have been easy for her to make 135 in February."

While that number was at the center of most conversations in the media regarding the inability to make the Cyborg-Rousey fight, it was not the deal-breaker it's been reported to be.

During the ongoing negotiations, which lingered for about two months, the promotion agreed to pay for the services of a dieting and nutrition consultant like Dolce. But there were other points that the two sides could not agree on.

The biggest issue, according to Cyborg's management firm Primetime 360, was Zuffa treating Cyborg as a bit player rather than an event co-star.

"Every pay-per-view megafight requires two participants, and they weren't giving Cris her just credit," Primetime 360 partner George Prajin told MMA Fighting. "They were compensating Ronda like she was the only attraction of the fight."

Despite several public statements by Cyborg and Ortiz that Cyborg could not make 135, as well as a failed practice cut led by Ortiz, Prajin told MMA Fighting that Cyborg would have attempted the drop to 135 if the sides struck a deal, but a contract fell apart for two reasons. First, the money was not right. And second, she was only interested in a short-term agreement.

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Cris Cyborg, Ronda Rousey, and the magic numbers that add up to a superfight