UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey has never been shy when voicing her disdain for Cristiane "Cyborg" Justino, and Tuesday was no different as she ripped the former Strikeforce champion while speaking to media in Brazil.
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Cyborg is currently the Invicta FC featherweight champion and is scheduled to make her bantamweight debut in December. "Rowdy" said she chose to fight outside of the UFC in order to avoid random drug testing.
"I would fight her, but 24 hours after the announcement of out-of-competition drug testing, she asked to be released from the UFC," Rousey said, according to MMAFighting.com. "I'm under contract with the UFC, I can't leave. She can come back whenever she wants, I'm here."
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Cyborg previously said it would be impossible for her to cut to 135 pounds, as she has competed as a featherweight her entire career. She has since changed her mind and if things go well in December, a showdown with Rousey is likely on the horizon for 2015. But Rousey said her use of performance-enhancing drugs is the reason it's taking her so long to cut weight.
"I think that everybody has something, and I think that she would still be a great competitor at 135, but I think that she knows that it would be much harder for her to get away with doping and to make weight at 135," she said. "That's why she resisted for so long. But then when she saw she had no other options, she started cutting down.
"The reason why people dope is because they lack self-confidence," Rousey continued. "The reason why she was using steroids is because that girl does not believe that the best that she has is good enough, and that will always be there in her mind. And you know what, she's right. The best that she has isn't good enough, even on drugs."
Rousey also commented on Cyborg's skill-set, saying she's not at all impressed with what she's seen.
"She doesn't have any feeling in her punches, she pushes her punches. She can't knock people out with one punch, she just overwhelms them," she added. "My pace, nobody can overwhelm me. And the way that she is on the ground, it's absolutely horrendous. And her distance is absolutely horrendous. The only thing that she has is pace and power, and I have pace, precision and power."
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