The UFC has finally decided to introduce a women’s featherweight title, however the promotion has decided not to involve Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino in the division’s first championship fight.
Instead, former women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm will face Dutch kickboxer Germaine de Randamie at UFC 208 on Feb. 11 with the inaugural 145-pound belt on the line.
Holm and de Randamie are two of the best strikers in the women’s 135-pound division, ranked No. 4 and No. 11 respectively, but neither are natural featherweights. In fact, Holm (10-2) is coming off back-to-back losses to Miesha Tate and Valentina Shevchenko. Holm became one of the biggest stars in MMA after knocking out Ronda Rousey at UFC 193.
Meanwhile, de Randamie (7-3) has only fought twice at featherweight in her career. She lost a unanimous decision to Julia Budd in 2011 then beat Hiroko Yamanaka by unanimous decision in 2012. Since joining the UFC in 2013, the 32-year-old Utrecht, Netherlands native has gone 3-1 with her lone loss being to current 135-pound champion Amanda Nunes.
This news comes approximately one week after UFC president Dana White claimed Cyborg turned down a fight with Holm on eight weeks notice.
“I offered Cris Cyborg a title fight at 145 pounds a month ago,” White said on the UFC Unfiltered podcast. “She had eight weeks to get ready for it, she said she couldn’t make the weight, said she couldn’t make 145 pounds. So then I offered her another 145-pound title fight for Brooklyn (UFC 208), she turned it down. She turned down two 145-pound title fights. One because she said she couldn’t make 145 pounds in eight weeks, and [UFC matchmaker] Joe Silva’s like, ‘If she can’t make 145 pounds in eight weeks, 145 isn’t the right weight class for her either.’”
The Invicta FC featherweight champion fought twice in the UFC in 2016, picking up a pair of dominant TKO wins over Leslie Smith in May and Lina Lansberg in September. Instead of allowing her to compete at her natural fighting weight of 145 pounds, the UFC had her cut an additional five pounds for 140-pound catchweight bouts. Cyborg is massive for a featherweight, so cutting to 140 pounds is an excruciating and unhealthy process.
She walks around at roughly 170 pounds so even her cut to 145 is extremely difficult, which, according to Cyborg, is why she chose not to accept a fight with Holm on only eight weeks notice.
Cyborg, who became an American citizen Tuesday, responded to White’s claims and the introduction of the new belt in a series of tweets.
There are currently only two women’s weight classes — bantamweight (135 pounds) and strawweight (115 pounds). In addition to this new featherweight division, it’s expected the UFC will introduce a 125-pound flyweight division at some point in 2017.
UFC 208 is scheduled to take place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. A light-heavyweight bout between heavy hitters Glover Teixeira and Jared Cannonier is also expected to be on the card.
