If you have a beautiful piece of white marble in the center of Curitiba, Brazil, the last thing you would want to do is deface it with a portrait of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women’s featherweight champion and hometown hero Cris Cyborg.
It’s almost as crazy as painting a Ronda Rousey mural in Venice Beach. The nerve!
That’s according to mayor Rafael Greca, who recently had the piece removed, insisting the “deteriorated” artwork would be better served on a regular wall somewhere else in town. And as you might expect, the champ was not happy about it.
“It’s not deleting my image in the square that my story goes out,” Cyborg told MMA Fighting. “There is no way to erase the main play where I am marked, the heart of my fans and followers. That’s the most important thing. If the mayor of Curitiba does not support an athlete who represents the city, imagine what happens with other athletes. It’s a shame. The right thing to do is to motivate young people to practice sports.”
At least it didn’t have a “Notorious” penis drawn on it (like this one).
Cyborg (20-1, 1 NC) is one of Brazil’s most successful mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters and a legitimate box office draw for the promotion. Since leaving Invicta FC to start her UFC career, the Brazilian is 5-0 with four knockouts and two title defenses.
I think that’s worth a mural in Curitiba, marble be damned.
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