UFC News: Cris Cyborg demands public apologies as feud with Dana White intensifies

What’s the story?

It is fair to say that the public disagreement between Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino and UFC President Dana White is well past the point of boiling over. Over the last week, the two have exchanged jibes in the mainstream media, and now, the former UFC Featherweight champion has taken another swipe at her former employer during a recent interview with Ariel Helwani.

In case you didn’t know…

Cyborg completed her contractual obligations with the UFC last weekend at UFC 240, with a decision win over Felicia Spencer; however, talk of a big-money rematch with Amanda Nunes will not go away.

While it does appear that all parties are interested in getting a deal signed for a rematch, it seems there is a much deeper-lying issue that needs to be rectified before Cyborg will put pen to paper on a new contract.

The heart of the matter…

Cyborg held nothing back when discussing the UFC and her on-going negotiations with the promotion. Thanks to MMAFighting for the transcription:

“The minimum contract offer was six fights. But the problem, the UFC puts me in fights one time a year. Who am I going to fight after Amanda? If you don’t want to make the deal - a one-fight deal, no extension, just the rematch and I’m free - I don’t have any problem to make the fight. Now they want to give me a contract with six fights, at one time per year, imagine how long I’m going to be in the UFC. And then my brand is not growing because I’m going to fight one time per year and they’re not helping my name growing, just damage. This is no help for me. We have to fix the money too. And I told that to Dana White’s face. Man, you’re not going to get the rematch if you pay the money you guys are paying for six fights.”

Unfortunately, the issues between Cyborg and White go way beyond business and the negotiation table. Cyborg explained that before talks can advance, she requires public apologies from Dana White and UFC commentator Joe Rogan, for inappropriate jokes he has made about her in the past…

“Of course he has to apologize. He has family, he has kids and I think if he wants to be honest, he’s supposed to do this. I don’t know if he has a heart, but what he’s doing is not just affecting me. He’s affecting people around me, my family. It’s not right. When you’re doing these type fo things, there’s no avoiding my family. He’s affected them, and it must be in public. It’s easy to talk in private like Joe Rogan. Joe Rogan said ‘I’m sorry’ when there were no cameras, just by myself. No, you want to talk about me, how I have a dick, you have to talk in public. You’re not a man, to me you’re not a man. If Joe Rogan a man, he will say I am sorry in public, like what he said. Not coming behind in the room and talk to me in my ear. ‘I’m sorry.’ This is not type of man that I know.”

What’s next?

Ideally, the next step in this ugly saga would be for both parties to sit down in private and resolve their disagreement away from the public eye. Unfortunately, it seems more likely that the damage has already been done, and both parties will walk away from negotiations, which would mean we have seen Cyborg’s last fight under the UFC banner.