If Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino and Megan Anderson get their way then it looks like they’ll be fighting each other in the Octagon in the near future.
The UFC had been hoping to have ‘Cyborg’ fight newly crowned woman’s featherweight champion Germaine de Randamie next, but injury woes and personal issues are keeping ‘The Iron Lady’ out of action for the time being, and so the Brazilian star is now setting her sights on a different opponent.
Speaking on ‘The MMA Hour’ this week, ‘Cyborg’ revealed that current Invicta FC champion Megan Anderson is the person she’s most interested in competing against now.
“I am very excited about this fight, and I called out this fight a long time, because I think she’s a 145-pounder,” ‘Cyborg’ told Ariel Helwani. “This fight was supposed to happen a long time ago, and then no happen because her manager talked to the UFC and thought she needed more time, needed more fights. But they think this is the real fight. This is the real fight for the belt at 145.”
Anderson is currently 8-2 in her career and won the interim 145lb title over at Invicta FC after ‘Cyborg’ vacated the belt.
She’s been putting pressure on the UFC to let her compete in the Octagon for some time now and is hopeful that ‘Cyborg’s’ interest in the fight could help that dream finally become a reality.
“People like to go to the media and want to fight Cyborg, but behind [the scenes], when you go talk to the manager in the other room, and then they’ll change game,” Anderson said on the show. “If she really wants this fight to happen, and she agrees that the fight can happen, man, have to put it in the hands of the promotion so we can do this fight.”
‘Cyborg’ also said during her interview that part of her motivation to fight Anderson is that she is a true 145lb’er, not just someone who’s moving up from a lighter division in order to get a high-profile fight against her.
“Man, I think it would be great,” ‘Cyborg’ said. “[Anderson]’s at 145, and she’s bigger than me. And I think my fans would really like to see me fight somebody who is bigger than me. It’s my division, and I’m really happy to be back in my division to fight.”
It remains to be seen if the fight will be made, but if so, ‘Cyborg’ has previously indicated that she was targeting UFC 214 in July for her next fight in the UFC.
