http://espn.go.com/blog/mma/post/_/id/21842/cyborg-closes-in-on-rousey-bout
LOS ANGELES -- Within a span of 24 hours, Ronda Rousey and Cris Justino each delivered a positively jaw-dropping performance this weekend.
And each did so in their own, uniquely devastating way:
The calibrated efficiency of Rousey (11-0), who follows several disciplines, highlighted, of course, by Olympic-caliber judo, woven together into one flawlessly executed sequence. Human art.
And in contrast, the bull-in-a-china-shop horsepower of Justino (13-1), which is not so much like getting hit by a truck, but getting run over by it repeatedly in a very short window of time.
The weekend, with Justino defending her Invicta FC featherweight title on Friday and Rousey defending her UFC bantamweight title on Saturday, begged one question: When will these two meet?
In January, Justino, 29, signed a contract extension with Invicta FC -- which has a close business relationship with Zuffa, parent company of the UFC.
UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta told ESPN.com on Friday that Invicta FC is responsible for paying Justino's fight purses, but confirmed Zuffa executives were involved in her contract negotiations. Fertitta also stated he would "love" to make a fight between Rousey and Justino around late 2015 or early 2016. The fight would have to take place at 135 pounds, for Rousey's UFC title.
According to Justino's manager, George Prajin, the contract extension Justino signed last month has stipulations that would apply to a Rousey fight, should the case present itself.
"We're working hand-in-hand with the UFC," Prajin said. "[A Rousey fight by the end of the year] is our common goal, but we have to do it in a way that is beneficial to both of us."
Justino is scheduled to headline an Invicta event on July 10 in Las Vegas. That fight will take place at 145 pounds. However, Prajin said the hope is to slowly be cutting weight over the course of the year to make the 145-pound limit with ease in July.
The plan would then call for Justino to make her bantamweight debut in the Invicta cage in the fall. Prajin, who has brought in nutrition guru George Lockhart to work with Justino, estimates it could take nine months to get her to 135 pounds.
"The fight in July is definitely going to be at 145," Prajin said. "We need to do it right. She'll cut two to three pounds by summer, maybe she'll make 135 in the fall and then we fight Ronda at the end of the year. That would be OK."
UFC president Dana White has expressed doubts in Justino's ability to make 135 pounds, with good reason. He attempted to sign Justino to a Zuffa contract in early 2013, but the Brazilian fighter and her manager at the time, Tito Ortiz, stated she could never make 135 pounds. The UFC does not currently promote a 145-pound female division.
White has been reluctant to speak positively about the possibility of a fight between the two for that reason. He has stated on numerous occasions the UFC would not book a catchweight fight, a statement Fertitta has echoed to ESPN.com.
"The thing with Cyborg is making the weight. I just don't know if she can make the weight," White said. "She fought [on Friday] and it was vicious, but she's definitely not fighting the caliber of fighters Ronda is fighting and she'd have to fight at 135 pounds."
Certain members of Justino's team agree with White's concern regarding her making the weight. Jason Parillo, Justino's boxing trainer, who saw this situation from the other angle with lightweight BJ Penn constantly wanting to move up in weight, said he prefers 145 pounds.
"It's a brutal weight cut for her," Parillo said. "Can she make 135? I don't know. I've seen her hurting making 145 and I've thought, 'Ten pounds more from here is going to be difficult.' I could sit here and say, 'F--- it, let's go down to 135 and we'll kick Ronda's a--, hooray' but that would be me being an a-----. She is the best 145-pound fighter in the world. I would prefer for her to stay at 145."
Rousey has taken shots at Justino for years, while still acknowledging she would want the mega-fight at 135 pounds. Justino was the Strikeforce featherweight champion when Rousey signed with the promotion in 2011, as a featherweight.
"Let me say this," White said. "I'm going to say it because she won't say it: She asks me all the time. She says, 'I'll fight her whenever she makes 135.' If [Justino] is going to make the weight, [Rousey] will fight her in a minute."
Edmond Tarverdyan, Rousey's head trainer, said, "Cyborg can't beat Ronda. She could train her whole life and not do anything to Ronda. We don't care about what she's doing. We're in the 135-pound division. Any day she wants to fight us, she knows where Ronda is. And Ronda demolishes her."
As has long been the case, weight remains the No. 1 hurdle to what would surely be the biggest fight in women's mixed martial arts history. Justino, who said in December she was done trying to cut to 135, says she is once again open to attempting it.
Prajin expressed optimism the fight would happen around the end of the year -- and that a general plan exists to make it happen.
"We don't want it to be a Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao situation where it takes 10 years to make, after they are both out of their primes," he said. "We want them to be at their best and for it to be considered one of the best fights in the history of the sport."
