Dana White fires back at Cris Cyborg following news of Holm vs. de Randamie

This week, the UFC announced that former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm, and #11 ranked women’s bantamweight Germaine de Randamie would be fighting for the inaugural women’s featherweight championship at UFC 208 on February 11th.

That didn’t sit too well with Invicta FC women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg, who is now 2-0 in the UFC after making her successful UFC debut earlier this year. According to UFC President Dana White, Cyborg turned down two fights for the inaugural UFC women’s featherweight championship, forcing the promotion to opt to give the title fight to Holm & Randamie.

That didn’t sit too well with Cyborg, who took to social media to rant about the situation, saying that the UFC was out to disrespect her. In a newly released interview with ESPN, Dana White fired back at Cyborg for her comments, saying:

“We’re out to disrespect Cyborg?” White questioned. “She said she couldn’t make 145 pounds in eight weeks. We offered her a second and a third fight. She turned them down. With everything I’ve got going on in my life, the last thing I’m thinking is, ‘Hey, let’s get together and disrespect Cyborg.’

“We offered three fights, and she turned them all down,” White continued. “This is a business. I had two girls who wanted to fight for the 145-pound title. This is the pros. If you play for the Patriots, you don’t sit around and say, ‘I don’t feel like playing this weekend.’ We brought her in because she said she could make 135 pounds. When she couldn’t, the weight cut was too hard, we created the 145-pound division — and she still doesn’t want to fight.”

With all of that being said, Ronda Rousey is also set to make her return to the Octagon later this month. Should both Rousey and Holm emerge from their fights victorious, it sounds as though fight fans could very well see a rematch between the two:

“This is a business of opportunity,” White said. “When opportunity arises, you jump up and take it. If you don’t, the bus is gone, and it passes you by. If Holly wins and becomes a champion, and that’s the scenario [Rousey regains the title]? I guarantee people will want to see it.”