Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White has an unfortunate history of taking verbal jabs at Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos, calling her "Wanderlei Silva in a dress" and laughing at inappropriate "dick" jokes at her expense. The greatest female Featherweight mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter of all time has had to endure truly awful behavior from grown men — accept their apologies — all in an effort to earn an opportunity to perform inside the Octagon ... in a meaningless 140-pound Catchweight class.
Nonetheless, she made the weight, twice, even though it almost killed her. The Brazilian then came to her senses and informed UFC officials that she was calling it Catchweight quits, demanding that the world’s leading mixed martial arts (MMA) league “introduce the Featherweights!” once and for all.
Well, UFC did just that last night, announcing the first-ever women’s 145-pound title fight between Holly Holm vs. Germaine de Randamie at UFC 208, which will take place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Feb. 11, 2017 (details). Yep, after years of unrivaled hard work and verbal abuse — through which Cyborg remained the real professional — UFC rewarded her with the ultimate snub because it could not wait one month longer.
It was another sign of total disrespect, which White shrugged off in a recent interview with ESPN.com.
"We're out to disrespect Cyborg?” White questioned. “She said she couldn't make 145 pounds in eight weeks. We offered her a second and a third fight. She turned them down. With everything I've got going on in my life, the last thing I'm thinking is, 'Hey, let's get together and disrespect Cyborg.'
"We offered three fights, and she turned them all down," White continued. "This is a business. I had two girls who wanted to fight for the 145-pound title. This is the pros. If you play for the Patriots, you don't sit around and say, 'I don't feel like playing this weekend.' We brought her in because she said she could make 135 pounds. When she couldn't, the weight cut was too hard, we created the 145-pound division -- and she still doesn't want to fight.”
“Doesn’t want to fight” and is “so depressed because she destroyed her mind and body to make UFC money” are totally separate things. Things that White will never seemingly understand. That’s probably because It’s clear that he has never been a huge fan of Cyborg, who threatened to sue him back in 2014 after he insinuated she was basically a deformed drug user.
I'm tired of working for a boss who doesn't like me
— Cris Cyborg (@criscyborg) December 14, 2016
Anyone remember when Dana was on @WhitlockJason saying 145 had no women? It's personal not sport
— Cris Cyborg (@criscyborg) December 14, 2016
Even after all of this, White is not backing down, suggesting that Cyborg is not a sure-fire lock to fight the winner of Holm vs. de Randamie after UFC 208.
"This is a business of opportunity,” White said. “When opportunity arises, you jump up and take it. If you don't, the bus is gone, and it passes you by. If Holly wins and becomes a champion, and that's the scenario [Rousey regains the title]? I guarantee people will want to see it."
That’s right, with a Holm victory and a Ronda Rousey win over current women’s Bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes at UFC 207, which takes place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Dec. 30, 2016, White and Co. are threatening to keep possibly her on ice for a lucrative “Champion vs. Champion” rematch in 2017.
Promises, promises ... and double standards, too.