UFC 208 saw the controversial victory of Germaine de Randamie over Holly Holm to win the inaugural women’s featherweight championship.
Although de Randamie is officially the champion at 145 pounds, MMA star Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino believes that the title does not necessarily mean that she is the best.
The Brazilian has not lost a fight in over a decade and is widely regarded as the best pound for pound female MMA fighter on the planet. Currently in limbo due to a potential doping violation flag by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), Cyborg spoke with Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour on Monday to give her thoughts on the weekend’s action. Initially intended to fight for the featherweight title, the aforementioned flagging plus “not being ready” to take the bout saw her miss an opportunity to appear in the historic fight. ‘Cyborg’ stated:
“You know, I think it was a very close fight, but if you look at the face of Holly, and you look at the face of Germaine, you will see that Holly was more beat than Germaine. I think Holly threw more combos, but there was no effect to the combos. Germaine touched Holly more than Holly touched Germaine. I think she should have won.”
“You could see Holly, she didn’t feel comfortable in the standup, because she tried grappling. “She tried wrestling. She didn’t try keeping her game to standup. She tried grappling, but she couldn’t take down Germaine.”
The feared fighter, who was once mooted as an opponent for one time dominant bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey, added:
“Everyone knows who the champ is at 145,” she said. “I’ve been the world champ for almost 10 years.”
