Cristiane Justino
Cristiane Justino Venâncio (formerly known as Cristiane Santos) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist born on July 9th 1985. She is widely considered the best female fighter of all time. She is the reigning defending UFC Women’s Featherweight Champion.
She has a brown belt in BJJ and has won gold in 2011 and 2012 in IBJJF World Championships. Justino has a black belt in Muay Thai under Master Rafael Cordeiro.
Cristiane “Cris Cyborg” Justino – Photo by Mazdak Cavian/MMAnytt
Justino is mostly known by her nickname “Cris Cyborg”. Before fighting in MMA she was a professional handball player that played in the Brazilian national team. She was discovered by her trainer Rudimar Fedrigo and brought in to the infamous Chute Boxe Academy.
Cris Cyborg’s career before the UFC
Cristiane Justino made her MMA debut in 2005 against Erica Paes, this marked Cris Cyborg’s first and only loss in MMA at time of writing. She is currently on a 12 year, 18-fight unbeaten streak.
She has been champion in multiple organisations such as Invicta FC and Elite XC. In Elite XC she had a huge fight with movie star Gina Carano in 2009 which was the first women’s fight to headline a major event. The fight was back and forth with Cris Cyborg winning by TKO in the first round.
Cristiane “Cris Cyborg” Justino – Photo by Mazdak Caivan/MMAnytt
In her career she has defeated top ranked women like “The Female Rickson” Marloes Coenen, Shayna Bazsler, Jan Finney, Charmaine Tweet and many more.
In her 2nd fight with Coenen, she won the inaugural Invicta FC Featherweight belt which she defended three times.
Cris Cyborg in the UFC
Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino made her UFC debut at 140 lbs (63.5 kg), in a catchweight fight. She faced off with Leslie “The Peacemaker” Smith at UFC 198 – Werdum vs. Miocic in her home country of Brazil. She battered Smith for a minute and 20 seconds before the referee had seen enough and called off the fight.
Smith showed her toughness and protested the stoppage, although it was clear from the replay that the stoppage was just.
Cristiane “Cris Cyborg” Justino – Photo by Mazdak Cavian/MMAnytt
Her last fight at 140 lbs in the UFC came against the Swedish “Elbow Princess” Lina Länsberg. The fight took place alot against the cage and in the clinch with Cris Cyborg landing with knees, punches and elbows. Länsberg hung in there until the 2nd round but lost by TKO after two and a half minutes of the 2nd round.
Cris Cyborg as UFC Women’s Featherweight Champion
After Germaine de Randamie refused to fight Cris Cyborg and wanted to move down to bantamweight, she was stripped of the title. That gave Justino a chance to fight for the vacant women’s featherweight belt.
Originally she was scheduled to fight Invicta featherweight champion Megan Anderson, but Anderson had to pull out due to personal reasons. Instead she faced Invicta bantamweight champion Tonya Evinger.
Most people counted out Evinger in the fight but it was Cris Cyborg’s longest fight since taking out Coenen in the fourth round in 2013. Evinger succumbed to punches 1:56 of round 3.
Cris Cyborg’s next fight in the UFC
At time of writing Cris Cyborg doesn’t have a fight scheduled. Most likely she will try to reschedule a fight with Megan Anderson but bantamweight Cat Zingano has also expressed interest in the fight. Rumors also claim that former bantamweight champion Holly Holm is angling for a fight with Cyborg.
