Holly Holm’s coach calls for harsh punishment for Cris Cyborg failed drug test

In December of 2016, news surfaced that Invicta FC women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg, who was 2-0 in the UFC in catchweight fights, had been notified of a potential USADA anti-doping violation after a failed out-of-competition drug test on December 5th.

Cyborg was quick to explain the situation, stating that she failed the drug test for a medical prescription used to help her recover from the brutal weight cuts she endured cutting down to 140 pounds. Prior to February’s UFC 208 women’s featherweight title fight between Holly Holm and Germaine De Randamie, UFC President Dana White stated that things were looking good for Cyborg and that she would likely be the next featherweight title challenger once her case with USADA is resolved.

With that being said, Holly Holm’s coach, Mike Winkeljohn, believes that Cyborg must be clean for one whole year before being allowed to fight again, and that in that time, Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie can have their rematch for the women’s featherweight title.

He spoke to Submission Radio about not only Holm vs. de Randamie 2, and the Cris Cyborg failed drug test.

“Oh I absolutely do believe she deserves a rematch,” Winkeljohn said, speaking of Holm’s loss to de Randamie. “I think most of the media out there, most of the writers that know a little bit about MMA thought Holly won the fight even without the point deduction. So I think it was below the top that way. With a point deduction, of course she would have won the fight. So I think it does validate the want for a rematch, there’s no doubt about it. I mean, it’s a tough one because I know Dana really wants to get Cyborg back in there, but here’s the deal with Cyborg – she keeps getting busted for illegal substances. I think she needs to stay clean for a year before she gets back in there and I think Holly needs to fight Germaine first.”

When asked what he thought of a Holm vs. Cyborg fight, Coach Wink stated:

“I would recommend probably not taking it until Cyborg is suspended for a year,” Winkeljohn said of a Cyborg/Holm fight, “because you never know what you’re going to get and you never know behind the scenes who’s getting tested and who’s not. Holly’s the number one tested person in the whole UFC. They knock on her door in the morning – I think she’s been tested, I want to say off the top of my head 17 times now in the last year and a half. Why? Why were they looking for her? Probably because they weren’t happy that she knocked out Ronda. But with that being said, people need to be clean to make people fight on a fair level playing field, and I think before Holly were to fight Cyborg she needs to do that.”

on 2/17/2017.