Cristiane "Cyborg" Justino is simply one of the most dominant forces in Women's MMA. She used Faith Van Duin to make her point clear in the main event at Invicta 13, defending her featherweight title by way of first-round TKO.
MMAjunkie tweeted out the official result:
Invicta FC 13 results: Cristiane Justino def. Faith Van Duin via TKO (punches) - Round 1, 0:45 http://t.co/F5S6XMNMZS
— MMAjunkie (@MMAjunkie) July 10, 2015
Cyborg wasted little time in crushing Van Duin with her brand of vicious striking. She immediately swung for the fences from the opening bell and ultimately collapsed her opponent with a knee to the body and followed her with ground strikes until Steve Mazzagatti saved Van Duin any more punishment.
The truth is the fight went exactly how it was supposed to. Since losing her first professional fight, Cyborg is unbeaten in 14 outings with one No Contest. That includes an undefeated run in the Invicta promotion and a title in Strikeforce.
With 11 finishes in her 13 wins leading up to this bout, fans would be hard pressed to name someone that's been as dominant in the sport for as long as Cyborg has.
Of course, Cyborg's dominance has been rivaled by one fighter who hasn't been at it quite as long. Ronda Rousey has racked up 11 finishes of her own in just a shade over five years.
The biggest fight the sport could make would be a superfight between the two. With this win over Van Duin, Cyborg took the next step in making the match possible. According to Elias Cepeda of Fox Sports, the path to a fight with Rousey has already been drawn out by the UFC.
Zuffa (the UFC's parent company) actually has Cyborg under contract but allows her to fight in Invicta because it does not have a 145-pound division for women. However, Cepeda reports that if Cyborg can successfully cut to 135 in an Invicta fight she will get a matchup with Rousey in the featherweight division.
It's clearly a fight that the Invicta star wants. After declaring that she would be rooting for Bethe Correia to knock out the UFC champ at UFC 190 she went on to talk about her desire to get her shot at the champion at whatever weight she can get the champ to agree on, per Marc Raimondi of MMA Fighting:
I think it would be perfect at 140. I'll try my best [to make 135]. I'll try 100 percent, I'll try for all my fans to make this fight happen and I know I can sleep [at night] and say I did my 100 percent to make this fight happen...I think it's very important for women's MMA. I want to be part of this. The first very important fight was with Gina Carano, and I'm very happy about this. Would I be happy about this fight [with Rousey]? Of course, I want it. I want to finish my career by having a big deal. I fight Ronda Rousey, I fight two big events. I helped grow up women's MMA.
With another impressive win added to her resume, the anticipation surrounding a fight with Rousey continues to grow. Analysts such as Jonathan Snowden of Bleacher Report have alluded to a fight with Cyborg for quite some time:
Watching Ronda Rousey try to pretend not to be totally shook by Cris Cyborg has been hilarious. pic.twitter.com/HFK5D5QzaA
— Jonathan Snowden (@JESnowden) July 6, 2015
Cyborg's next move might bring the demand to a fever pitch, though. According to Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com, the Invicta star would like to fight Miesha Tate at a catchweight of 140 pounds in the UFC. Okamoto reported that Tate is willing to take the fight.
A matchup between Cyborg and another face that UFC fans will immediately recognize would be a huge step in the right direction. And if Tate—a well-documented rival of Rousey—is willing to take on Justino at 140 pounds, it just might be enough to push Rousey to do the same.
Either way, it's clear that talks about a fight between the juggernauts of women MMA won't subside anytime soon.
