By the time she marches into the Bellator MMAcage to face incumbent 145-pound champion Julia Budd, it will have been a cool six months since we last saw Cristiane Justino in action; and even though her last fight saw “Cyborg” hand the previously undefeated and tough-as-hell Felicia Spencer a three-round shellacking at UFC 240, you’d be forgiven for thinking that her time as one of the most feared female mixed martial arts fighters in history had somehow come to an end.
That has been the story of Cyborg’s MMA career—both before she signed with the market-leader in 2016 and certainly since she elected to fight out her Ultimate Fighting Championship contract and test free agency, which ultimately led her to sign with Scott Coker’s Bellator in September. Dominant performances inside the cage have unfolded against a crusade outside it to undermine her achievements and jeopardize her market value, led by the UFC President Dana White and the UFC itself.
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Jacob Debets 