Tito Ortiz is a 205-pound man, and Cristiane "Cris Cyborg" Santos is a 145-pound woman, but as Ortiz recovers from back surgery and prepares to return to the UFC, he says rolling on the mats with Cyborg has been a part of working his way back into the Octagon.
"I was wrestling with Cris Cyborg," Ortiz says in the above video. "She's a tough chick, man. For a girl, I expected her not to be so damn tough. We were just wrestling on and I went for a guillotine and she slipped out of it. When she slipped out of it I went straight on to a triangle. When I locked in the triangle she picked me up and slammed me on the ground and I had no pain, nothing. I ended up choking her."
As strong as Cyborg is, I do have a little bit of a hard time seeing Cyborg actually picking up Ortiz and slamming him to the ground. And, obviously, Ortiz wouldn't be able to go all-out in sparring with any 145-pound fighter, male or female.
But whatever the specifics of Cyborg and Ortiz working together, I think it's a good development for MMA that male and female fighters feel comfortable enough working together that Ortiz can roll with Cyborg, and they're both benefiting from it.
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