In the never-ending saga that is Ronda Rousey vs. Cris “Cyborg” Justino, or Dana White vs. Tito Ortiz for that matter, the UFC President came forward today that Cyborg was never offered the fight for December 5.
The story of this potential blockbuster fight has been growing rapidly this week. Cyborg's manager George Prajin told Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com he had multiple conversations with the UFC about a fight with Rousey in December. This comes after the he said-he said between White and Ortiz over the past week.
On Monday evening, White was adamant to Matt Parrino of UFC.com that Ortiz was completely wrong:
To show you that Tito Ortiz has no idea what he’s talking about, we’re not even doing the fight in Dallas, Texas. The fight is going to be in Las Vegas at the MGM. Just to show you that Tito is absolutely talking out of his a--.
The party line for Cyborg's title bid against Rousey has always been that she fight at 135 once prior to ensure that she can make the weight. White said he asked UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby to contact Cyborg about this process.
Rousey gave a Reddit AMA, Ask Me Anything, on Monday. Naturally, Cyborg came up. Rousey didn't hold back on her feelings about Cyborg or that fight. Rousey said Cyborg is merely waiting to be offered enough money and that she consulted with Mike Dolce about making 135 pounds before he ever started working with Rousey. The champion also said she would like for this matchup to be her retirement bout.
Rousey made it known that Cyborg needs her:
Her shows that she headlines lose thousands of dollars, and the majority of the tickets are given away because no one will buy them. She needs me. So pretty much we're waiting for her to realize that she needs to fight me before I retire or she'll never have enough money to retire.
Cyborg's last fight came at Invicta FC 13 in Las Vegas in July. She thrashed Faith Van Duin in under a minute to retain her 145-pound title. She was pressed in the post-fight interview as to if her next fight would be at 135 pounds. The champion balked at the question. Cyborg was completely non-committal and did not appear to have any current plans of making an attempt to reach 135 pounds.
Also interesting from Monday's quote is the admission by White that put talks of a December 5 supershow at AT&T Stadium in Dallas to rest. Per Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports, Jose Aldo vs. Conor McGregor will take place in Las Vegas on December 12, but Rousey vs. Tate will not be on the same card.
The UFC has been adamant that Cyborg make 135 before facing off against Rousey for her championship belt, and nothing appears to be changing on that front. The Invicta FC featherweight champion will have to prove she can make 135 pounds before getting that opportunity.
The onus is fully on Cyborg from here on out. Make 135 and force the UFC to make the fight most fight fans want to see or come to grips that it will never happen.
The Rousey-Tate trilogy has yet to have a date attached to it, but UFC 194 heads toward the MGM Grand in December without the fight attached to it.
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