On Saturday night in Las Vegas, UFC women’s featherweight champion Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino proved that she is far more than merely a mix of bullish aggression, power and strength, as she scored a unanimous decision win over crafty former bantamweight queen Holly Holm in the main event of UFC 219.
Ahead of the fight, there seemed to be two main schools of thought. One suggested that Justino would simply overpower and ravage Holm. The other claimed that Holm had always thrived against aggressive fighters like ‘Cyborg’ and that she possessed all the attributes required to effectively play the matador. Both schools, however, seemed to be casting Justino as the bull, and it turns out that both schools were underestimating the guile and skill of the Brazilian.
While she came forward and pressured Holm with her feet throughout the fight, ‘Cyborg’ was very patient. Holm had success with her left hand, particularly in the second round, and she intelligently but rather surprisingly used the clinch to disrupt Justino’s striking rhythm at times. ‘Cyborg’ never panicked, however. She remained calm in those clinches and seemed to use very little energy. She landed with her jab and right hand time and time again, perhaps having her greatest success with the latter shot when she allowed ‘The Preacher’s Daughter to lead. Making Holm miss regularly and consistently countering effectively, Justino showed that her stand-up game is far more cultured than she is given credit for.
One of these counter rights seemed to stun Holm at the end of the third, but the bell followed soon after and the JacksonWink fighter was able to regain her bearings between rounds.
In the latter sessions, ‘Cyborg’ landed some hard kicks to Holm’s body and also threatened with numerous high kicks. She couldn’t find the right combination of blows to put the badly marked-up but teak-tough Holm away, however, and she was forced to go the distance for the first time since 2008 and for only the third time in her entire career. It was also Justino’s first time ever time going the five-round championship distance.
In the end, all three judges saw the fight for Justino, although two of them only gave her the nod by the narrowest of margins. The scores were 49-46, 48-47, and 48-47.
After the fight, ‘Cyborg’ was quick to call for a clash with Invicta featherweight champion Megan Anderson.
“I would like to fight someone at 145[lbs], maybe Megan Anderson,” said Justino, who added that she would like the fight to take place in Anderson’s homeland – Australia.
She doubled down on this on social media on the hours that followed.
Anderson seemed very much up for the fight as well.
Great fight ladies! Congrats Cris on retaining your belt! 👏🏻👏🏻 @ufc I think there's only 1 fight to make now against a legit featherweight. #UFC219
— Megan Anderson (@MeganA_mma) December 31, 2017
Justino and Anderson were supposed to fight at UFC 214 earlier this year, but Anderson pulled out and was replaced by Tonya Evinger, whom ‘Cyborg’ finished inside three rounds. To reschedule this one would make perfect sense.
Here is how Twitter reacted to Justino’s performance and the scoring, which some thought was too narrow and others, surprisingly, just plain wrong…
@HollyHolm can hold her head high what a fight… Cyborg just kept coming and has a chin to take it. Solid main event #ufc219
— No Notice (@beatdown155) December 31, 2017
Incredible effort from both women. An excellent end to a solid year of MMA. #UFC219 #CyborgVHolm
— Dan Hardy (@danhardymma) December 31, 2017
Great fight ladies. #ufc219
— Nina Ansaroff (@NinaAnsaroff) December 31, 2017
I got @Amanda_Leoa over both… you can mark my words… again.
— Nina Ansaroff (@NinaAnsaroff) December 31, 2017
Cyborg cannot be stopped by a mere mortals… T1000 #UFC219 pic.twitter.com/JM9I3KzlIr
— The Mane Event™ (@EliasTheodorou) December 31, 2017
I have @HollyHolm winning th fight 3-2 #UFC219 but wow what a fight
— Felice Herrig (@feliceherrig) December 31, 2017
No disrespect to Cyborg, but I had @HollyHolm winning that one @ufc #UFC219
— Emily Peters Kagan Ⓥ (@EmilyPKagan) December 31, 2017
Tremendous fight by both women! #respect to both. I have it Cyborg taking every round. @ufc
— Alan Jouban (@AlanJouban) December 31, 2017
Not sure which 2 rnds the judges gave Holly. But she had some good moments in a couple rounds. Cyborg still out-struck her every rnd by the numbers. And more damage in my opinion. Great fight! @ufc
— Alan Jouban (@AlanJouban) December 31, 2017
Cyborg showed great composure in there!!
— Alex Volkanovski (@alexvolkanovski) December 31, 2017
Great fucking fight! Respect to both ladies @HollyHolm @criscyborg
— Chase Sherman (@ChaseShermanUFC) December 31, 2017
All the fighters in the first two rows had Holly up 2-0 so whatever lol. What do we know 🤷🏽♂️
— Cub Swanson (@CubSwanson) December 31, 2017
Aside from Khabib who absolutely killed it tonight 😳 The women really stole the show at #UFC219
— Cub Swanson (@CubSwanson) December 31, 2017
I apologize for ever doubting you @criscyborg
— Kevin MTP Lee (@MoTownPhenom) December 31, 2017
Not a bad Performance by The Preacher’s Daughter! Mr. John Holmes would be proud! #UFC219
— Vinny Magalhães (@VinnyMMA) December 31, 2017
Amazing @HollyHolm @criscyborg ! 5 rds where you both fought with strength, technique and heart. Proud to call you both friends #UFC219
— Sarah Kaufman (@mmasarah) December 31, 2017
Great job from Cyborg. Is there any real opposition for her at 145? Or will she be like MM at 125? Cream crackered here so peace out #UFC219 pic.twitter.com/Y1JiPauDsv
— Coach Kavanagh (@John_Kavanagh) December 31, 2017
I don’t care the results even Holly is my Hero
— Miesha Tate (@MieshaTate) December 31, 2017
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 great fight
— Amanda Nunes (@Amanda_Leoa) December 31, 2017
https://twitter.com/lthomasnews/status/947348289061621760
That was a tremendous fight. Great heart from Holm, who isn’t a natural 145er. I think Cyborg did enough, though. Off to the scorecards …
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) December 31, 2017
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