Cristiane 'Cyborg' Justino cited for misdemeanor battery

UFC women’s featherweight star Cristiane Justino could be called to court after allegedly punching Angela Magana at the 2017 UFC athlete summit.

Officer Larry Hadfield of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department confirmed to MMAjunkie that Justino was cited for misdemeanor battery after police were called to the summit at the JW Marriott Las Vegas by an unknown party. The incident was reported to have taken place on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in Las Vegas.

Hadfield said LVMPD officers investigated and cited Justino after Magana said she wanted to press charges. Magana, who’d suffered a laceration on her face, transported herself to the hospital.

The information was read from an active incident report describing the alleged crime, as police do not initially make incident reports public. Hadfield said the citation will go to the Clark County district attorney’s office, who will decide whether or not to press charges against Justino.

“This is a misdemeanor crime, which is the lowest of Nevada penalties,” said Hadfield. “When they found probable cause to believe the crime had occurred, they cited that other individual. For us, it’s a very minor call, I guess you could say.”

A charge of misdemeanor assault carries a potential penalty of six months in jail and $1,000 fine, though the punishment can be downgraded to community service.

The report did not say whether the police took photos of Magana’s injury. Magana posted a photo of her face on Sunday after the incident, which appeared to show a small cut on her lip. She said the UFC contacted the police.

A video of the confrontation, posted today on Cagepages.com, shows Justino confronting Magana.

“You don’t respect nobody,” Justino said.

“I can call out whoever the (expletive) I want,” Magana replies.

“Yeah, (expletive) you,” said Justino, who then appeared to throw a punch that caused onlookers to gasp.

The confrontation was reportedly sparked over a tweet Magana (11-8 MMA, 0-2 UFC) posted that showed a picture of Justino beside a horror movie character. The photo was taken while Justino visited cancer patients in her native Brazil. According to MMAFighting.com, Justino’s father is battling cancer.

TMZ Sports first reported the misdemeanor charge. Magana disputed the TMZ report as “grossly inaccurate” and claimed police are looking into felony assault charges. She also indicated Justino would be released from contract by the UFC. Justino’s manager, George Prajin, declined comment, as did UFC officials, and Magana did not respond to a request for comment.

Justino (17-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) is expected to fight a to-be-confirmed opponent at UFC 214, which takes place July 29 in Anaheim, Calif.

The UFC has previously held athlete summits to welcome new fighters to the promotion and thank existing ones.  The 2017 UFC Athlete Retreat took place 10 months after the promotion was acquired by entertainment giant WME-IMG.

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.