From February to July, the UFC women’s featherweight division was an absolute mess, even for standard MMA messes. Luckily, like a savior from Brazil, Cris Cyborg finally set things right after winning Germaine de Randamie’s stripped title. De Randamie outright avoided a fight with Cyborg to defend her title, which resulted in getting buried constantly during the UFC 214 broadcast. If it wasn’t for Invicta’s Tonya Evinger, who knows how long it would have taken to get an opponent for the most devastating and dominant women’s fighter on the planet. However, Mike Winkeljohn thinks that Cyborg’s last fight exposed some holes in her game that Holm can exploit and earn some title fight vindication.
“I think Evinger showed a lot of that and she exposed her in many ways. I think Holly can pick her apart. There’s no doubt about that. What people don’t understand is how strong Holly is too in the clinch, on her feet and moving and stuff. But yeah, Cris is really strong, but I think Holly wears her down and is able to stop her. You look at Holly’s knockout percentage, I think her and Amanda Nunes are the biggest out there. She stops all of her fights, everybody else other than Cyborg. So, Holly has the power to stop Cyborg just like Cyborg has the power, the difference is Holly’s got speed and her footwork.” — Holly Holm’s coach via Submission Radio.
Obviously, Cris Cyborg didn’t take too kindly to that. She immediately went to Twitter to continue the campaign of fighting Holly Holm at UFC 219. It’s the fight that really should have opened up the entire division, so hopefully the new weight class will continue in its proper reset. Either way, some ultraviolence between two of the sports top women would be perfect to cap off the year.
Simple. @HollyHolm doesn’t turn down fights then @JacksonWinkMMA should let her fight #ufc219 Holly’s last 4 fights showed she’s beatable 2😂 https://t.co/VzGvBuWmvd
— #UFC219 CyborgVHolm (@criscyborg) August 10, 2017
Say what! 😤 not on my watch! @criscyborg sis let me know when you ready to start preparing for her! I got you! https://t.co/anl8TACS0q
— ClaressaT-rexShields (@Claressashields) August 10, 2017
Even two-time Olympic gold medalist boxer Clarissa Shields got in on the action. She helped Cyborg train for her last fight and evidently they both earned each other’s respect. Watch out Holly Holm, you’re dangerous but this crew is definitely a group of ladies you don’t want to mess around with.
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 8/10/2017.