'Cyborg' Justino meets Leslie Smith at UFC 198 in Brazil

Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino

Although it won’t come against her longtime rival and former champ Ronda Rousey, Cristiane Justino is now set for her official UFC debut.

“Cyborg” (15-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC), the reigning Invicta FC featherweight champion and a former Strikeforce titleholder, is slated to fight Leslie Smith (8-6-1 MMA, 2-2 UFC) in a 140-pound catchweight fight at UFC 198.

Officials today announced the bout.

Justino enters the organization on a 15-fight winning streak; the 30-year-old Brazilian hasn’t suffered a loss since her 2005 pro debut. She’s recently competed for Invicta FC, an all-female promotion that now streams its events on UFC Fight Pass. There, she won the belt with a victory over Marloes Coenen and has defended it with title defenses against Charmaine Tweet, Faith Van Duin and Daria Ibragimova. Her past nine wins have come via knockout.

Over the years, “Cyborg” and Rousey have developed a rivalry, but with “Rowdy’s” title loss to Holly Holm in November, it’s largely fallen by the wayside.

Smith, meanwhile, recently defeated Rin Nakai at UFC Fight Night 85. It moved the 33-year-old Invicta FC vet, who won three “Fight of the Night” bonuses with the promotion, to 2-1 in her past three UFC fights, which also included a TKO win over Jessamyn Duke.

The latest UFC 198 card includes:

• Champ Fabricio Werdum vs. Stipe Miocic – for heavyweight title
• Vitor Belfort vs. Ronaldo Souza
• Uriah Hall vs. Anderson Silva
• Corey Anderson vs. Mauricio Rua
• Matt Brown vs. Demian Maia
• Patrick Cummins vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
• Warlley Alves vs. Bryan Barberena
• Yancy Medeiros vs. Francisco Trinaldo
• Nate Marquardt vs. Thiago “Marreta” Santos
• Sergio Moraes vs. Kamaru Usman
• Renato Moicano vs. Zubaira Tukhugov
• Rob Font vs. John Lineker
• Cristiane Justino vs. Leslie Smith

For more on UFC 198, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.