With the loss of the Featherweight Title fight between Frankie Edgar and Champion Max Holloway, the UFC is choosing to force another title fight onto the card for UFC 222, continuing to screw Cris Cyborg in the process. With Brian “T-City” Ortega now stepping in for the injured Holloway, the featherweight match-up between Frankie Edgar , a former champion, and Ortega, an undefeated prospect, could easily headline a pay-per-view. Instead we will get a short notice title fight in the women’s featherweight division in UFC 222.
Yana “ Foxy” Kunitskaya, the current Invicta bantamweight champion, called out Cyborg in a tweet on January 25th, 2018 and it looks like she will get her wish. Kunitskaya (10-3-1) will face a serious step up in competition when she makes her UFC debut taking on the greatest women’s mma fighter of all time, on short notice no less.
So it seems there is a “Rocky” story that the UFC could promote and really try to market UFC 222 to the average mma fan. So why haven’t they? Why haven’t they even provided an image of Kunitskaya on the official UFC website? Invicta is now on fight pass. It’s not like they don’t have access to images let alone Yana Kunitskaya herself. But it’s as if the UFC has no intention of promoting Cris Cyborg.
Cris Cyborg (19-1) has been flawless since losing her first mma fight by kneebar. With an 84% KO ratio, Cyborg is easily the most feared fighter in women’s mma, even Rhonda Rousey wouldn’t fight her. Unable to make the 135 limit for bantamweight, the UFC was somewhat forced to create a women’s featherweight division to accommodate the dominant women’s champion. Now the problem becomes finding an opponent to face Cris Cyborg. There are very few women on the same level as Cyborg and even less at 145 lbs. So far we have seen former and current women’s 135 lb. champions step up in weight only to be dismantled by a bigger more powerful Cris Cyborg.
So for the time being, UFC 222 looks like all we will get in the women’s 145 lb. division. Rushed fights with opponents who just aren’t big enough to take on such an impressive champion. Will Cyborg ever get the type of media coverage her talent deserves? Will an actual 145 lb fighter be able to challenge Cyborg for her title in the near future or will she continue to reign over an empty division?
Story courtesy of “Hollywood” Joe Tussing
