Issue 165

March 2018

The most violent woman in the game has solidified her rightful place on top of the world.

The following interview took place in 2018

For more than 10 years, Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Justino has been unstoppable. Despite losing her very first professional bout, she has gone on to beat every other opponent she has ever faced. She became champion in Strikeforce and Invicta, and earned her status and the unquestionable number one women’s mixed martial artist in the world.

There was something missing, though. Despite all of her accomplishments, she did not have acknowledgment from the world’s premier MMA organisation. Then, after jumping through the hoops and making two grueling cuts to a 140lb catchweight in 2016, she was passed over for the first UFC women’s featherweight title fight at the beginning of 2017.

That proved to be a misstep by the UFC. Germaine de Randamie was stripped of the title just four months after she won it because she refused to defend her belt. Cyborg was ready to pounce on any fight to win the vacant strap, and subsequently blew away the ultra-tough Tonya Evinger on the undercard of Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier 2 last July. She then closed out the year on the big stage, in the headline slot at UFC 219 in Las Vegas, defending her belt against Holly Holm.

The bout against ‘The Preacher’s Daughter’ was a marquee matchup against a former champion with a big pro le, and the Brazilian took full advantage of her top billing to prove why she has been the most dominant female fighter to compete in the cage.

Do you think beating Holly Holm makes you the greatest female fighter ever?

I think this was a big fight, but I don’t think it will define everything for the sport. It was a great fight. Holly was the girl who beat Ronda (Rousey). I didn’t get the chance to fight her, but they got to see me fight Holly. It was an amazing fight and a great night for MMA.

What was your game plan going into the fight?

When the cage door closed, it was just me and her. You can have the best game plan in the world but after the first punch, everything changes and it was a fight. I watched a lot of fights with Holly and she ran a lot in the past. I hoped she didn’t do that in our fight. My mindset is if you want to be the champ, you have to fight – you can’t just run away. If you want the belt, come fight me. My mindset going in was that I had five rounds to catch her and at some point, I would catch her. We put on a good fight for the fans. This is what people waited for; this is why they bought tickets. They come to watch amazing fights.

How do you rise above the negativity and name-calling that still follows?

You aren’t going to make everybody happy. People are going to judge you. People are going to say mean things. You need to use this to challenge yourself, you need to use it for the opposite, and you need to use it as fuel. Ronda Rousey said things about me before and she challenged me to be a better fighter. I started training judo because of her. Sometimes when people don’t like you, they actually make you better. You have to look at it in a different way.

Does it make you mad?

Of course you get mad. It’s not easy. I don’t tell you I think like it’s easy it’s a lot of work. Sometimes when people say negative things you just have to close the door. Don’t open the door. Don’t give the room for negativity. Prove them wrong. Do what you do and it doesn’t matter what people say. Someday, these people will text you and apologize. I get a lot of messages like that. Sometimes people don’t know. They just want to jerk somebody or say mean things. After the fact, many times they realize they shouldn’t have done it. It’s not right, but everybody can be mean at times.

Your road to the UFC belt was a long one. How did it feel to finally capture the title last year?

I think everybody who followed me during my career knows that a lot of things have come true and I have overcome a lot. I felt very thankful to be the champion in the UFC. When they put the belt around my waist, I felt like I was done with an old chapter in my life and this was a new chapter. I am going to do a lot of things for women’s MMA. I feel great and look forward to many years ahead with the UFC. I will do my best to stay champion.

It takes a lot of work for you to make weight for your fights. What is the worst cutting experience you’ve had?

The worst was when I cut to 140lb. I was dieting and working to make 135lb for three years. I was trying to do my best to make that weight for the Ronda Rousey fight. I wanted to do it for all the fans. I really cannot make 135lb. I thought maybe we could do a catchweight. The closer I got to 140lb, it was the worst. It was a great opportunity I had to fight for the UFC. I had to make 140lb. It’s weird, but when you cut weight it helps you mentally. It makes you mentally strong. In all my fights, the first fight is to make weight. Even 145lb is hard for me.

Why did you take those fights?

Making that catchweight was a huge opportunity for me. To fight in the UFC, my first fight in the UFC, people will know me. They know me but I wanted them to know me as a UFC champion. It was really tough, I did the best I could. It was tough but it was something that was really special, too. I know when I finish my career I knew I did everything I could to make the fights everybody wanted to see. I will know I did everything I could for the sport.

If not for me and asking for a new division maybe they wouldn’t have my division today. I was doing something nice for other women. They won’t have to go through what I had to go through. I want to do my best for those coming after me as well.

Is it true famous Chute Boxe trainer Rudimar Fedrigo discovered you when you were playing handball?

I was playing at university and this guy, George, was watching me because his son played handball, too. I was competing against men in actual competition. After the game, he came up to me and said, ‘I think you can be a great fighter.’ He gave me a card from Chute Boxe. I looked at him like he was crazy. I never went to any MMA fights. I never watched any fights other than Mike Tyson fights with my dad. In Brazil, it was midnight or later when they were on. I would try to watch many times with my dad but I fell asleep! I was never interested in fighting.

What made you finally go to the gym?

Every time I saw this guy he would tell me to stop by the gym. One day after he kept talking I went and did my first training. I kept training. I did my first fight in six months.

I lost because I had an injury in my elbow but after the fight I was like ‘Man, I was born for this.’ There was no red card in MMA. Handball has a red card if you are too violent. In MMA, I can do everything I want to do! I can be violent. I can be me in there. At that time, I stopped handball and just trained MMA. Now here I am.

How did you go from reluctant beginner to one of the most aggressive and devastating strikers in the sport?

When I started training, I didn’t know I had so much fire in my heart. I put to use everything that was inside me. I cannot explain it. I go to the fight and when I go, I go to die or to kill. To stop me you have to kill me. I go to go to war.

I train really hard and God gave me a gift to be a fighter. This gives me confidence to go out and do my best. This is just my style. I come from Chute Boxe in Brazil. There are a lot of stars that came from this gym – Wanderlei Silva, ‘Shogun’ (Mauricio Rua), ‘Ninja’ (Murilo Rua), Anderson Silva – a lot of aggressive guys. That’s where I get the style but it comes out in the actual fight, too.