Strikeforce Women's 145lbs division put on hold, Cyborg stripped of the title
Posted on January 7, 2012, 08:04 AM by Anton Gurevich
In an interview with ESPN 1100 Las Vegas, UFC President Dana White revealed Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos is no longer the Strikeforce Women's Featherweight Champion, while women's 145lbs division is now put on hold indefinitely.
Here's the news (via BloodyElbow.com):
"We were going to hold that division and just do fights with Cyborg whenever there was a new contender. She's getting stripped of the title. I don't know. We'll see what happens."
Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker was more "official" in his response, claiming that Strikeforce have zero tolerance towards any use of performance-enhancing drugs. Coker also added that Cyborg has her rights according to the California law, and should not be prejudged before the administrative process is fully concluded:
“STRIKEFORCE has not seen the test results regarding Ms. Santos. However, we have a consistent and strong stance against any use of performance-enhancing drugs. We also have a long history of supporting effective drug testing of athletes by authorized regulatory bodies. Therefore, we will closely monitor the matter and will work with the California State Athletic Commission regarding any information we may be asked to provide. We also recognize that Ms. Santos has administrative process rights under California law and we hope that she is not prejudged before she has the opportunity to exercise such rights.”
Strikeforce always had to dig deep to find suitable contenders for the hard-hitting Brazilian, whose failed drug test could seriously affect the careers of other female MMA fighters in the Featherweight division. Cyborg Santos is expected reveal her side of the story sooner than later, as the world o Mixed Martial Arts opens 2012 with another steroid scandal.
Further Reading: Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine LowKick.com Staff Predictions
Comments
Enter Rhonda Rousey
enter anyone whose urine sample wasn't bright green.
Let's have a look what other pro mma fighters have to say:
Gsp: I'm not impressed
Lyoto Machida: I told her to drink it
Mauricio Shogun Rua: I am verry Happppy
i briefly thought it may because they found her man parts.
welcome back gina carano.
We have no reason to not assume she's on steroids and that the test is wrong right now but you can't really say she has the right to appeal and hope she is not prejudged until then but still strip her title. Not saying they did the wrong thing but a little hypocritical with that statement there.
I have to agree.
I have to disagree.
I hope the belt is the only thing that they gonna strip him...her off....
we need proof! so just do it
This is a big blow to wmma. Dana has been vocal in the past about his lack of interest in women fighting. Now with the two biggest names in wmma gone it will make promoting a fight to non-mmaheads allot harder. If you ask any casual fan the only women fighters they may know are Gina and Cyborg at most. This could be the death blow to wmma in Zuffa. My prediction is once the Showtime deal expires Strikeforce will fold into the UFC and womens division will be absolved.
OK..what has changed in the last years for Cyborg since her start on Strikeforce?
She has been a dominent force n womans MMA.
Has she been on the juice from the get go and she slipped by the teat process. (Its not always detectable) or just recently someone in her camp offered her the idea of using and some stupid idea that if you get off of the stuff early enough and let your body cleanse...you will not detect traces of the substance....
Wow...I like Cyborg and always though of her as a beast. Shes tuff but she does have many manly physical charateristics.... it could be from the years of fighting though..
Big blow from MMA.
And I'd prefer a blow from Rousey
Prefer a Tate liplock myself...
Sad news...but if you take PEDs specially in a sport that consists of beating your opponent untill the ref stops you should be banned for good...Sad news.
do a 4 man tourney and let aldo win it
What?
What's great for MMA is the fact that sonnen is hyped up here constantly because he appeals to the IQ of WWE fanboys
its not really like she never looked suspicious. people alway say she looks like a female wanderlei. and she would probably kick most of the male's devision's asses haha. she really should have known that they would find out.
Many fighters have ruined their careers like this. Barnett for one. Theres many who are good fighters but will never be seen any higher than what they've done...even Sean Sherk never really made it back.
They need to make it a 4 year suspension, that crap would stop quick or they would never go to the UFC and stay in tiny orgs.
Whats worse is connecting everyone in that camp...no-one knew? They all do it?
Look at her arms.
Look at her shoulders.
Look at her abs. Look at her [lack of] hips.
Look at her thighs. Look at her engorged clitori-penis.
Look at her chin. Look at her jaw.
Listen to her voice. Watch her murder every woman in the world with her bare hands.
She got that at GNC ;)
terrible news. shes lost my respect as a ligit champion.
Mario Pudzianowski has been getting his steroids from Cyborg for a while now.
It's a sad, messed up world we live in people. I always gave her the benefit of the doubt before this; even though I described her fighting style as resembling "man on woman" domestic violence.
She was just to much of a man for the girls she fought to handle. And now we know why.
I would twice for six figures.
Throw her into the Mens 145 division, i wana see her beat the crap outta Faber!
before she was ugly but at least she was a world chap
now shes just ugly, sucks for her