Frankie Edgar Rips De Randamie For Refusing To Fight Cyborg
Last week, UFC featherweight champion Germaine de Randamie’s manager said that she would not be fighting former Invicta FC featherweight champion Cris Cyborg Justino, a female many consider to be the best in the world, due to the fact that they felt as if she was a ‘cheater’. De Randamie followed this report up with a statement of her own, implying that she would soon be dropping back down to 135-pounds.
This situation has garnered de Randamie quite a bit of criticism, as many feel as if she’s ducking Cyborg. Former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar recently spoke on the topic, sharing that same sentiment:
“It’s fear. USADA is in place now,” Edgar told MMAFighting.com during a recent media scrum. “For me, I would fight whether they’re doing steroids or not. I’m a fighter and that’s why I signed up to do this sport. I guess she had different plans though.”
“That’s crazy to me. She just doesn’t want to fight Cyborg. That’s what it comes down to. At ‘35, she’s not getting easy fights there either. If I was her, I would at least fight in one more title fight. You never know, you may not get a chance to do that again.”
Cyborg has only competed twice under the UFC banner, knocking out Leslie Smith in her Octagon debut at UFC 198 and stopping Lina Lansberg in the main event of UFC Fight Night 95. Both of those fights took place at a catchweight of 140 pounds.
De Randamie, on the other hand, is coming off of a somewhat controversial title-winning decision victory over former bantamweight champion Holly Holm in the main event of UFC 208 this past February from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Since then, however, she has yet to defend the 145-pound strap, with rumors indicating that she has been dealing with personal issues.
What do you make of Edgar’s comments and how should the UFC deal with de Randamie?
