For the past week, the feud between Cris Cyborg and Dana White has been escalating publicly. Now though, with Cyborg’s final fight on her UFC contract completed, and the prospect of a lucrative rematch with Amanda Nunes awaiting them, both the UFC and Cyborg are put in a position where they’ll need to come to terms with one another, or part ways for good. But for Cris Cyborg, the damage may already be done.
Speaking with Ariel Helwani on Monday, Cyborg addressed her current situation with the UFC and noted that while she does want to rematch Nunes, there are a lot of obstacles standing in the way of that. Primarily, her treatment at the hands of her promoter.
“I think a lot of things have to fix and change for [me] to have more fights in UFC,” Cyborg said. “Everybody who follows my career knows my struggle with UFC. They know I never start fighting with UFC because the promotion want me to be there. No, it was the fans pressure. I have opportunity to be in UFC because my fans put so much pressure [on them]. It’s not because they wanted me there.
“They don’t help me. They don’t help me grow my brand. All the time they try to damage my brand, especially Dana White and he’s the head of UFC. If you look at the face of UFC, who is the face of UFC? Dana White, and he continues to damage my brand. It started a long time ago. It started when I was in Strikeforce. I don’t know what his problem [is] but he continues doing this and I proved him wrong.”
White and Cyborg have a well-documented history of contentious behavior, starting with White calling Cyborg “Wanderlei Silva in a dress” and continuing through the UFC’s insistence on having her cut to 140 pounds instead of building a featherweight division for her. In recent years, things have toned down some, however prior to UFC 240, White spoke little about Cyborg’s fight with Felicia Spencer, instead focusing on how Cyborg was too afraid to rematch Nunes. Cyborg, of course, has steadfastly refuted those claims and says she never refused to fight Nunes, but she did refuse the UFC’s demand for a contract extension that she viewed as bad for herself.
“The minimum contract [offer] was six fights,” Cyborg said. “But the problem, the UFC puts me in fights one time a year. Who am I going to fight after Amanda? If you don’t want to make the deal - a one-fight deal, no extension, just the rematch and I’m free - I don’t have any problem to make the fight. Now they want to give me a contract with six fights, at one time per year, imagine how long I’m gonna be in the UFC. And then my brand is not growing because I’m gonna fight one time per year and they’re not helping my name growing, just damage. This is no help for me. . .
“We have to fix the money too. And I told that to Dana White’s face. Man, you’re not gonna get the rematch if you pay the money you guys are paying for six fights.”
Cyborg’s story makes some sense. Historically, White has been at loggerheads with fighters who have held out for more money or demands. Usually, things end up getting worked out in the end. But unlike those other times, White has engendered a lot of ill will with Cyborg and the former featherweight champion seems intent on at least testing free agency, if not leaving for greener pastures elsewhere. If White wants to re-sign her, Cyborg says he has to make a public apology for everything he’s said to hurt her and her image over the years.
“Of course he has to apologize,” Cyborg says. “He has family, he has kids and I think if he wants to be honest, he’s supposed to do this. I don’t know if he has a heart, but what he’s doing is not just [affecting] me. He’s [affecting] people around me, my family. It’s not right. When you’re doing these type fo things, there’s no avoiding my family. He’s [affected] them. . .
“[And it must be in ] public. It’s easy to talk [in private] like Joe Rogan. Joe Rogan said ‘I’m sorry’ when there were no cameras, just by myself. No, you want to talk about me, how I have a dick, you have to talk in public. You’re not a man, to me you’re not a man. If Joe Rogan a man, he will say I am sorry in public, like what he said. Not coming behind in the room and talk to me in my ear. ‘I’m sorry.’ This is not type of man that I know.”
Dana White has not been one for public apologies in the past and, speaking as recently as immediately after UFC 240, made it clear that he doesn’t feel he has anything to apologize for.
It’s starting to feel like we’ve seen the last of Cris Cyborg in the UFC.
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Unhappy. Dana White: Conor McGregor ‘not happy’ to hear Jorge Masvidal was too big for him.
Bullying. Cris Cyborg blasts Dana White for bullying her, not sure about future with the UFC.
Confident. Alexander Volkanovski confident he will dethrone Max Holloway after watching his fight with Frankie Edgar.
Ari Gold. Ari Emanuel stands to make huge financial windfall based on UFC’s success following Endeavor IPO.
VIDEO STEW
All Maxcess. Behind the scenes of UFC 240 before and after.
Looking at Fusion X-Cel.
Israel Adesanya visits Saudi Arabia.
TTTHS.
LISTEN UP
The Co-Main Event. Discussing Max and Cyborg’s big wins and Covington’s title shot.
Anik & Florian. Recapping UFC 240 and looking ahead to Lawler vs. Covington.
SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE
Frankie on his performance.
Max sending the love.
Thank you Edmonton for making my team feel at home. Rush and I loved the water park and candy store at WEM, and my team got a lot of love from the mosquitos at Elk Island National Park . We’re recovering with this foot duster right now. Till next time Canadian fam pic.twitter.com/hGDfZJj6xT
— Max Holloway (@BlessedMMA) July 29, 2019
Fight.
Wanted to dethrone the "King", they want me to derail a train, #JohnnyWalker thinks he's ready for the big leagues, time to roll out the red carpet. You want the sauce?! Meet me in the land of opportunity, NYC, MSG, Nov 2nd. #ufc #msg @AliAbdelaziz00 @danawhite @Mickmaynard2
— Corey Anderson UFC (@CoreyA_MMA) July 29, 2019
Let's dance together, and have a little fun, LHW needs a new king . ✌
— Johnny Walker (@Johnnywalkermma) July 30, 2019
Somebody want to play? @CoreyA_MMA pic.twitter.com/iuiCh3Qq7C
— Johnny Walker (@Johnnywalkermma) July 30, 2019
OAM on his losing streak.
Nicolas Dalby on getting re-signed to the UFC.
Ray Borg is pumped up.
Okay, this is tremendous tweeting from Colby.
.@Benaskren I think we need new best friends. pic.twitter.com/QEFqVks4TV
— Colby Covington (@ColbyCovMMA) July 27, 2019
ATT just keeps getting more fighters.
Great work @AmericanTopTeam!! Looking forward to the future with you guys! @mikebrownmma @KingMoFH pic.twitter.com/hNiBPgCit9
— Ricky Bandejas (@rickybandejas) July 27, 2019
Screw cutting the weight. Just do it at 145.
If Frankie decides to go down to 135 I think a fight with Cruz would be fitting and a great style matchup , Frankie coming off loss , Cruz coming off lay-off from injury , not a bad idea
— Brian Kelleher (@brianboom135) July 30, 2019
And here’s why.
VIRTUALLY IDENTICAL!!! ...And we not slowing down.@mikebrownmma @americantopteam pic.twitter.com/2lUd3daPZR
— Din Thomas (@DinThomas) July 30, 2019
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Movsar Evloev (11-0) vs. Mike Grundy (12-1); UFC Shenzen, Aug. 31.
Mackenzie Dern (7-0) vs. Amanda Ribas (7-1); UFC on ESPN+ 19, Oct. 12.
TODAY IN MMA HISTORY
2011: Dan Henderson knocked out Fedor Emelianenko at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson. In the co-main event, Miesha Tate claimed the bantamweight championship with a fourth-round arm-triangle choke of Marlos Coenen.
2016: Tyron Woodley became the UFC welterweight champion, knocking out Robbie Lawler in the first round at UFC 201.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Thanks for reading and see y’all tomorrow.
EXIT POLL
Poll
Whose side are you on in the Dana White-Cris Cyborg feud?
This poll is closed
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86%
Cris Cyborg
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13%
Dana White
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