Cristiane Justino makes news for the way she fights. In 17 career MMA wins, she has 15 stoppages.
But more often than not lately, she’s in the news as much or more for what she weighs than how she how she decimates opponents in the cage. On Saturday, Justino (17-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) took out Lina Lansberg (6-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) in typical “Cyborg” fashion in the UFC Fight Night 95 main event with a first-round TKO.
Heading into the fight, the focus was on whether or not she could hit the 141-pound max for the 140-pound catchweight fight. The UFC has no featherweight division, in which “Cyborg” typically fights, and in which she’s the champion for Invicta FC. But Justino repeatedly has said she can’t make it all the way down to 135 pounds for the UFC’s bantamweight division.
And that, of course, has meant high-profile fights with the likes of former UFC champ Ronda Rousey, current UFC champ Amanda Nunes, and ex-champs Miesha Tate and Holly Holm are mostly off the table – unless one of them wants to fight her at a catchweight, the way Lansberg did.
Justino made 141 pounds for UFC Fight Night 95 – though it may have been a struggle. And Lansberg said before the weigh-ins that if “Cyborg” didn’t make the contracted limit, she wasn’t going to fight her at a heavier weight. But for the fight itself, that’s just what she did, according to Lansberg coach and former UFC fighter Akira Corassani.
Corassani said on his Instagram feed that Justino told Lansberg inside the cage on Saturday at Nilson Nelson Gymnasium in the Brazilian capital of Brasilia that she walked in at 170 pounds. And for that, Corassani said, Lansberg should be getting a ton of newfound respect from the MMA world.
“Lina had a chat with Cyborg where she mentioned that she walked into the cage at 170 lbs (77 kg),” Corassani said on Instagram. “Now that means TWO weight classes up along with that additional skill level. What can get harder doing all this in you UFC debut!? I know she will be back and show what she is about but what she did taking this fight believing in herself is admirable! Fighters should ask themselves if they would do it? Forget about the average joe getting anxiety and jitters from singing at a half-empty karaoke bar! This woman should be praised. I am her biggest fan and will make sure she bounces back!”
Justino said after the fight her days of catchweight fights may be over – unless they’re superfights. That may mean she returns to Invicta to defend her featherweight title in bouts that stream on UFC Fight Pass instead of fighting in the UFC’s octagon on pay-per-view or FS1.
But what of Lansberg? Corassani said his fighter came in fully prepared for “Cyborg,” but got shut down by a superior opponent. Now he and Lansberg are back to the drawing board.
“Everybody has a plan before they get hit,” he wrote. “Acceptance: With zero excuses and pure admiration for @linalansberg the obvious conclusion is… Cyborg is just a better fighter, too strong, too heavy possesses power that can put any woman or man to sleep. To accept that as a team is very hard trying to figure out what we could’ve done differently.”
For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 95, check out the UFC Events section of the site.
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