Cristiane "Cyborg" Justino
Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino
LAS VEGAS – Invicta FC featherweight champion Cristiane Justino insists that, really, she’s trying to make the 135-pound limit needed to set up a fight with UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey.
“It’s good for me (to move to bantamweight) because they have more girls,” Justino told MMAjunkie. “It’s hard to find girls at 145 (pounds).”
After needing 45 seconds to destroy title challenger Faith Van Duin (5-2) in Friday’s Invicta FC 13 main event, which took place at Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas and streamed live on UFC Fight Pass, it’s hard to imagine many opponents signing up to face the featherweight champ. A meeting with Rousey (11-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) is the fight everyone wants to see, and the fight Justino (14-1) wants the most.
But if she can’t shed the pounds, Justino, who’s developed a heated rivalry with the UFC champ over the past several years, probably will never get the chance. UFC officials require her to make the bantamweight mark before they book the fight. And just recently, she may have lost another asset in her quest to drop a division.
As a fighter under contract with Zuffa, she would be subject to the promotion’s new anti-doping program and its ban on using IV fluids for rehydration following a weight cut.
Ronda Rousey
Ronda Rousey
Before her fight-week weight cuts, Justino reportedly weighs between 165 and 170 pounds and as heavy as 180 when she’s not in fight camp. A steep weight cut is one of the main factors behind the use of IV fluids.
“Something I think it’s not good is when you’re an athlete and you don’t have water in your brain,” she said at Invicta FC 13’s post-event press conference. “It’s not good for a fight, and I’ve read a lot about it. I don’t agree with (the IV ban), but the athletes, we just have to see what happens.”
Fighters can rehydrate without IVs by drinking fluids at regular intervals after a weight cut, but the process must be done carefully. Some industry vets have speculated, however, that the ban will prompt many to move up in weight, or compete closer to their natural weight.
Invicta FC President Shannon Knapp said Justino is trying to lower her walk-around number.
“She’s working with a great nutritional coach, George Lockhart,” Knapp said. “ They’re working hard. She’s going to keep working on moving down, and we’ll see where it goes from there.”
Justino said she’d like to fight “soon,” or in September as she mentioned in her post-fight interview, and expects to defend her featherweight title on several occasions. Although her latest result left many thinking she has no serious competition at 145 pounds, she said she still feels challenged inside the cage.
“In training, you have to respect your opponent and be ready for any situation,” she said. “I train every day, and I never think the fight is going to happen like this. I try to challenge myself.”
And yet, the greatest challenge is still on the horizon. Asked whether she thought Rousey was watching her fight at Invicta FC 13, she took at jab at the champ’s longtime training partner, Marina Shafir, who was knocked out in 37 seconds in the event’s opener.
“I think so,” Justino said. “Maybe she was watching her friend.”
For more on Invicta FC 13, check out the MMA Events section of the site.