Germaine de Randamie refuses to fight 'Cyborg' Justino, willing to have UFC belt stripped

The puzzling saga of Germaine de Randamie’s UFC title reign took yet another turn today. According to her manager, the women’s featherweight champion has no intention of defending her title against clear-cut top contender Cristiane Justino.

De Randamie (7-3 MMA, 4-1 UFC) has fallen almost entirely off the map since she beat Holly Holm for the inaugural 145-pound belt at UFC 208 in February. There’s been mixed messages from her side, which range from a lingering hand injury to personal issues and more.

UFC President Dana White recently stated the UFC would have an update on de Randamie, but there’s been nothing of the sort. If she’s to defend her title, “Cyborg” Justino (17-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) is seemingly the only logical option in terms of opponents, but according to a statement from her manager, Brian Butler of SuckerPunch Entertainment, “The Iron Lady” refuses to fight the Brazilian.

“Germaine and her team have talked, and the position is that she will not fight ‘Cyborg’ because ‘Cyborg’ is a known and proven cheater,” Butler said in the statement to MMAjunkie on Friday. “Even after so much scrutiny has been put on ‘Cyborg,’ she still managed to pop for something and will always be a person of suspicion who is trying to beat the system rather than just conforming to the rules.”

Justino had a response on Twitter.

Justino’s cloudy background can’t be ignored. The former Strikeforce and Invicta FC champion most notably failed a drug test for a banned substance in December 2011 and was suspended one-year for her violation of the rules. In the years that followed she did her best to rebuild her reputation, but the stigma of steroids has always been attached to her name.

Justino also failed an out-of-competition drug test administered by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) in January, but she was not punished because she provided documented information that proved the test results were caused by a legitimate medical treatment. Still, the recent situation didn’t do her image any favors.

The hope from both Justino and the UFC is to have her fight at UFC 214 on July 29 in Anaheim. The original desire was for a title fight with de Randamie, but even before the latest revelation it was clear that date wasn’t going to work out.

With no other fighters currently signed to the women’s 145-pound division, though, the options for de Randamie’s first title defense are essentially non-existent. Despite that, de Randamie will apparently wait on the UFC to make the call on what happens next, as long as it isn’t a fight with Justino.

“Germaine and her team don’t believe that ‘Cyborg’ should be allowed to compete in the UFC at all,” Butler said. “If that is the only fight the UFC wants, then Germaine is willing to wait and see if the UFC will strip her belt before making her next move.”

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

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