Cris Justino is nicknamed “Cyborg,’’ which makes me think of chamomile tea, lazy days at craft fairs and long, meaningful conversations. Actually, that’s not true. It makes me think she can kill me with one hand.
And she’s not even the baddest female mixed martial arts fighter in the world. That would be Ronda Rousey, who knocked out Bethe Correia 34 seconds into their UFC 135-pound title fight Saturday. If Justino is a robot, then Rousey is a machine, with only one of her 12 victories going longer than one round.
Now the clamor is for a fight between Rousey and Cyborg, who is the Invicta FC champion at 145 pounds. But this being a sport involving humans, there is the matter of Cyborg’s positive test for an anabolic steroid in 2011.
Rousey said she wants to see a super fight take place but only if Cyborg shrinks.
“I fight in the UFC, in the 135-pound division,’’ Rousey said. “She can fight at 145 pumped full of steroids or she can make the weight just like everybody else without them.”
Said Cyborg in response: “I think people think too hard and get afraid of a certain challenge.”
’Roids and trash talking. Who said women aren’t making gains in a male-dominated sports world?