Cris \"Cyborg\" Justino, the former Strikeforce women's 145-pound champion who was just released this week by the UFC, has signed with the Invicta Fighting Championships and will debut on their next show on April 5. <\/p>\n
Cyborg (10-1, 1 no-contest) hasn't fought since her Dec. 17, 2011 title defense against Hiroko Yamanaka, which she originally won via TKO in just 16 seconds. That win was overturned when the muscular Brazilian tested positive for the veterinary steroid Stanozolol. <\/p>\n
Cyborg's manager, Tito Ortiz, made the official announcement Friday night at a press conference in Huntington Beach, Calif. Ortiz unveiled a poster for the Invicta show, which listed Cyborg as facing Ediane Gomes (10-2), a Brazilian who now lives in Coconut Creek, Fla. At the press conference, neither Ortiz nor Cyborg ever mentioned Gomes' name. The poster stated \"live on pay-per-view\" at the bottom, although neither Ortiz, nor Invicta in its release, made any mention of pay-per-view. <\/p>\n
The show takes place at the Ameristar Casino Hotel in Kansas City. Gomes had been already announced to face Julia Budd (4-2) on the show. Budd will now face Flona Muxlow (6-2). The show also features an Invicta atomweight (105 pound) fight with champion Jessica Penne (10-1, 1 no contest) vs. Michelle \"Karate Hottie\" Waterson (10-3), and a match to create the company's first flyweight champion with Barb Honchak (7-2) vs. Vanessa Porto (15-5). <\/p>\n
Another name not mentioned at the part of the press conference that aired on \"Inside MMA\" was Marloes Coenen (21-5). Simultaneous to the press conference, Invicta sent out a press release, announcing the Cyborg vs. Gomes winner would face Coenen. <\/p>\n
After Cyborg defeated Gina Carano in the highest-profile woman's MMA fight in history on August 15, 2009, becoming the first Strikeforce woman's champion at 145 pounds, her first title defense was a third-round stoppage of Coenen in a fight she dominated due to her far greater physical strength. <\/p>\n
Instead, a nervous Ortiz, as well as Cyborg, in broken English, talked only about UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. Provided both keep winning, Rousey vs. Cyborg would be the dream woman's fight of the current generation, but there are weighty issues keeping them apart. <\/p>\n
Normally signing a multi-fight deal with another promotion would kill any chance of facing a UFC champion, but UFC and Invicta have a working relationship. The major issue is Cyborg's insistence on not fighting at less than 140 pounds. Rousey is champion at 135, and has been insistent that Cyborg can't demand a special weight class when she's coming off a steroid suspension, stating she believes if Cyborg was clean, she could make 135. Dana White said that UFC is only doing a bantamweight division, so if Cyborg wants the fight that's the weight she has to make. <\/p>\n
As part of the press conference, they had Cyborg strip to her fighting outfit and step on the scale. She weighed 160 pounds, looking thicker and less muscular than at her 145 pound weigh-ins in the past. Ortiz a few weeks ago had said Cyborg walked around at 172 pounds, insisting there was no way she could cut to 135. <\/p>\n
\"It is literally impossible for her to make that weight,\" said Ortiz. <\/p>\n
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Cris Cyborg signs with Invicta FC, will make her debut at Invicta FC 5<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cris \"Cyborg\" Justino, the former Strikeforce women's 145-pound champion who was just released this week by the UFC, has signed with the Invicta Fighting Championships and will debut on their next show on April 5. Continue reading